The trade war is on pause, but the supply chain is still shaky

Here & Now Anytime

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4.1 • 954 Ratings

🗓️ 14 May 2025

⏱️ 26 minutes

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Summary

The U.S. and China have agreed to a 90-day pause on steep tariffs, though products from China will still be taxed at 30%. Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, shares what he's seeing as businesses navigate an uncertain trade climate. And, President Trump is in Qatar, the second stop on his trip in the Middle East. But Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy calls the trip a "public corruption tour," citing a number of personal business interests Trump has in the region. Then, as part of his trip, Trump met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and announced the U.S. planned to lift sanctions on Syria. NPR international correspondent Aya Batrawy explains more about Trump's Middle East tour.

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0:00.0	Support for here and now anytime comes from MathWorks, creator of MATLAB and Simulink software for technical computing and model-based design.
0:09.2	MathWorks, accelerating the pace of discovery in engineering and science. Learn more at MathWorks.com.
0:17.5	WBUR Podcasts, Boston.
0:23.0	Everyone is trying to get their goods in prior to the end of the 90-day pause.
0:28.6	How the Trade Truce looks from the Port of Los Angeles. It's Wednesday, May 14th, and this is here and now anytime from NPR and WBUR.
0:47.5	I'm Chris Bentley.
0:51.1	Today on the show, a closer look at President Trump's tour of the Middle East.
0:56.4	Democratic Senator Chris Murphy calls it the president's public corruption tour.
1:01.1	So what's happening here is pretty simple.
1:03.1	The United States is giving these countries preferential policy treatment,
1:08.7	not in exchange for any concessions to the American taxpayers or to
1:13.5	American national security concerns, but in exchange for cash payments to the president.
1:19.1	But before we get to that, we're now a few days into this tariff pause between the United
1:24.5	States and China. Taxes on Chinese imports dropped from 145% down to 30%,
1:31.0	and some businesses are already seeing a change. Aaron Rubin is the founder and CEO of Ship Hero,
1:37.2	which handles e-commerce business shipping to the U.S. Immediately following the announcement of the
1:42.7	reduction in tariffs, we saw a 35% increase in booked containers,
1:48.2	and more importantly, we saw a very large spike in new purchase orders placed from factories in China.
1:54.4	Everyone is trying to get their goods in prior to the end of the 90-day pause.
1:59.4	That's one view, but for a bigger picture, we've called up Gene Soroka.
2:03.3	He's the executive director of the port of Los Angeles, the busiest port in the nation.
2:08.4	He spoke to Asma Khalid.
	...

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