Topic: Global Trade

As part of the plan, DHL will move its Manhattan service center to a new 92,505-square-foot site in Jersey City, New Jersey, by the end of November 2025. The new building is about five miles from Lower Manhattan and is designed to make deliveries smoother, safer, and more efficient.

The United States and China appear to have found at least some common ground on a few different issues, during this week’s meeting between President Donald Trump and President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping, at the APEC meeting in South Korea.

In this podcast, LM Group News Editor Jeff Berman interviewed Susan Spence, Chair of the Institute for Supply Management's (ISM) Manufacturing Business Survey Committee.

The Federal Reserve said yesterday that it lowered the target rate, for the federal funds rate, which comes from its Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) for the second consecutive month, dropping it by 0.25%, to 3.75%-to-4.0%, its lowest rate level since 2022.

DHL Global Forwarding, a subsidiary of global logistics and express delivery provider Deutsche Post DHL focused on air and ocean freight, announced it has rolled out a new consolidated clearance service, which it said is geared towards U.S. imports to support retailers as they deal with trade shifts and tariff complexity.

The report, entitled “JLL’s U.S. IND Market Dynamics Q3,” stated that third-quarter leasing volume reached 146.2 million square feet (MSF), marking the highest level of leasing activity since the first quarter of 2024 (and 387.1 MSF year-to-date).

Quarterly consolidated revenue, at $21.4 billion, fell 3.7% annually, and basic earnings per share, at $1.74 (topped Wall Street estimates of $1.29), fell $0.24, or 13.4%, annually. Total operating profit, at $1.8 billion, was off 9.1% annually. 

Following a social media message issued by President Trump late last week, which said that the United States would halt trade talks with its second-largest trading partner, Canada, another social media post by Trump indicated that the U.S. plans to raise tariffs on Canada by 10%.

Total September volume, at 1,550,599 units, rose 2.4% annually, ahead of the 1.6% annual gain seen in August and below July’s 4.4% annual gain, which saw higher volumes due to the pulling-forward of goods being imported during the previous pause on the White House’s reciprocal tariffs.

Any signs of progress being made on the trade front between the United States and its second-largest trade partner, Canada, appear to be squelched, based on a social media post issued by President Trump last night.

LM Group News Editor Jeff Berman recently interviewed Chris Butler, CEO, at Cranford, N.J.-based National Tree Company. Butler provided Berman with an overview of how National Tree is handling tariff policy, supply chain uncertainty, seasonal issues, and sourcing, among other topics.

The Port of Los Angeles reported that total volume, at 883,053 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEU), fell 7.5% annually, and the Port of Long Beach reported that total September volume, at 797,537 TEU, was off 3.9% annually.

The firm reported that September imports, at 2.72 million TEU (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units), fell 5.8% annually, down from August’s 2.9 million TEU July’s 3.01 million TEU (which topped the 3 million TEU mark for the first time and came on the heels of a June decline, coupled with importers looking to optimize sourcing following the White House’s reciprocal tariffs related to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act on most U.S. trading partners, which went into effect on August 7).

The latest DHL Global Connectedness Tracker shows trade expanding faster in early 2025 than in any half-year since 2010.

September U.S.-bound container import volume—at 2,307,933 TEU (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units)—fell 8.4% compared to August’s 2,519,722 TEU, the second-highest monthly total in 2025 and close to the May 2022 monthly record, as well as the third-highest September tally on record, and was also down 8.4% annually. On a year-to-date basis through September, volumes are up 1.9% compared to the same period a year ago, which Descartes said suggests moderate resilience in overall demand. 

Actions outlined by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), in regards to announced modifications of certain aspects of the responsive action to modify American shipbuilding from April, went into effect.

The September reading, at 57.4 (a reading above 50 indicates growth is occurring), trailed August’s 59.3 by 1.9%, coming in at its lowest level since March and its second-lowest this year—and it is the seventh consecutive month the LMI reading has been below the all-time overall average of 61.5.

The impetus for this planned action, Trump said, was due to China taking what he described as an extraordinarily aggressive position on trade, in the form of imposing large scale export controls on nearly every product made in China and some not made in China, including rare earth minerals.

A session at this week’s Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) EDGE conference in National Harbor, Maryland addressed various aspects related to the current state of the freight market, including the impact of various freight recessions, above-average inventory levels despite efforts to reduce them, the importance of maintaining shipper-provider relationships, as well the impact of tariffs, and other topics.

A panel of industry experts across different areas of the supply chain provided a detailed overview of market trends and themes this week in a session at the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) EDGE annual conference, which was held in National Harbor, Maryland.