The Trump administration’s sweeping tariff campaign against China is already sending deep tremors through global shipping routes and trade flows, with U.S. importers now being notified of a surge in canceled sailings from Chinese ports. 80 transpacific sailings have been scrapped, a clear response by ocean carriers to slumping demand following Trump’s April tariff escalation — a move that raised duties on Chinese goods to as high as 145%.

The cancellations, known as blank sailings, represent a sharp pullback in service from China to North America. Major freight alliances, including Ocean Network Express (ONE), have suspended planned sailings and restructured others, such as removing U.S. East Coast ports from scheduled routes.

The Trump administration’s imposition of new fees on Chinese-built vessels marks one of the most sweeping efforts yet to curb China’s dominance over global shipbuilding — a move with significant implications for international shipping, U.S. trade logistics, and American manufacturing policy.

Announced on Thursday by U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, the new fees are grounded in a multi-year investigation — initiated under the Biden administration — which concluded that China’s shipbuilding rise was enabled by “unreasonable” state-led industrial policy that burdens U.S. commerce and undermines American shipbuilders.

The effects of the Trump administration’s tariff shockwaves are playing out with whiplash speed in Vietnam’s export sector, as factory floors alternate between a sprint and a standstill depending on the product and destination. Industry executives and local surveys reveal a chaotic landscape: some manufacturers have been ordered to drastically ramp up production for U.S. shipments, while others are cutting shifts or freezing expansion plans as American buyers hesitate amid the trade uncertainty.

This volatility reflects the disruptive impact of the sweeping 46% tariffs President Trump announced earlier this month on Vietnamese goods, most of which were paused on April 9 for a 90-day window while negotiations with U.S. trading partners continue. That pause, while welcomed, has done little to stabilize operations, with exporters unsure whether to scale up output for a boom—or hunker down for a bust.