Companies race to ship goods to the U.S. ahead of potential tariffs
NEW YORK/LONDON –
In recent months, plenty of business executives have said they were taking a wait-and-see approach to U.S. President Donald Trump's broad threats of tariffs. Early holiday-quarter earnings reports show many of them were not.
Automakers like General Motors and Mercedes, French cognac makers, and Italian producers of parmesan cheese and sparkling wine have all expedited deliveries to the United States. Commodities buyers, meanwhile, stepped up purchases of steel, aluminum, and soybeans.
"We see companies currently front-loading their imports into the U.S.," said Patrick Lepperhoff, managing director at supply chain consultancy Inverto in Cologne.
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