Decline in shipping poses a new threat to U.S. consumer spending, Apollo's Sløk says

A sharp decline in container ship departures from China to the U.S. is emerging as a new challenge for American consumers and could threaten their spending power, Apollo Academy chief economist Torsten Sløk said.

The slowdown in shipments increases the risk of product shortages and higher costs, especially as tariffs continue to weigh on imported goods.

There has been a fall in total shipping into the U.S. as well.

[Overall shipping]
Apollo

"When consumers cannot get the products that they want from abroad, and the products that are imported are more expensive because of tariffs, the outcome is a slowdown in US consumer spending," Sløk said.

The U.S. consumer spending momentum is now facing several battles, according to Sløk, including headwinds from tariffs, relatively high interest rates, student loan payments restarting, and deportations lowering the number of consumers.

Here is a chart from Apollo to show the decline of container ships from China to the U.S.

[Container ship movement]
Apollo

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