Hong Kong’s freight forwarding industry is suffering collateral damage from an intensifying tariff war between China and the United States, shaking the city’s crucial role in re-exporting goods, business leaders have warned.
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Many manufacturers with more than 15 per cent of business exposure to China-US trade had been forced to slash jobs or save costs, said Joyce Tai, executive vice-president for worldwide partnerships at Nasdaq-listed global freight booking platform Freightos.
“There will be [a] huge economic hit, and probably more so on the Hong Kong side, because … Hong Kong is a pass-through,” she said.
That is driven by tariffs of 145 per cent that US President Donald Trump recently imposed on Chinese imports. He also levied so-called reciprocal tariffs on most of the US’ trade partners, but to a lesser extent.
“And the impact of the same tariff imposed [on] Hong Kong is just probably a lot heavier than that we are seeing on mainland China,” Tai said.
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According to TAC Index, an air freight intelligence provider, the index of outbound routes from Hong Kong fell by 3.1 per cent week on week in the four weeks leading to April 28, leaving it 3.6 per cent lower year on year.