Today's right-wing populism, rampant in several countries, celebrates many of its actions as historic. At hundreds of the measures signed by Donald Trump, since when he January is back in the White House, the president has attributed this connotation. So also at the executive decree signed in the past few hours which would be memorable in capable of "restoring maritime dominance American". The measure provides for the creation of a Maritime Action Plan (MAP) with the aim of revitalizing the national maritime industry, giving it resilience, removing an obstacle that the government administration believes has so far penalized the sector and which is identified in public procurement and excessive regulation that would have slowed down the ability of private industry to build ships in the time and within budget.

The decree provides for initiatives both in relation to the production of naval military and commercial divisions, instructing the secretary Defence Minister, Pete Hegseth, to assess options for investing and expand the maritime industrial base, including the conferred on the President by Title III of the Defense Production Act of 1950 to intervene to affect the national industry in the interests of national defence, and by instructing the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), Jamieson Greer, of make recommendations on the actions to be taken against competition from China in the shipbuilding sector naval.

In addition, the measure instructs the Secretary of Security Kristi Noem, to enforce tax collection port and other tariffs on foreign goods entering the U.S. in order to prevent circumvention through the passage of goods through Canada or Mexico, in order to prevent carriers to evade the HMF port maintenance fee on the goods imported through the practice of making a stopover in Canada or Mexico and send goods to the United States through the land borders.

Other objectives of the MAP plan include the Developing a strategy to ensure safety and leadership on Arctic sea routes to deal with the believes that there is a growing presence of foreign ships in the region.

Justifying the purposes of the measure, the decree states notes that 'shipbuilding capacity and the U.S. maritime workforce have been weakened by decades of neglect by the government, leading to to the decline of a once solid industrial base, strengthening the our adversaries and eroding the national security of our United States. Both our allies and our competitors - the document notes - produce ships at a fraction of the of the cost required in the United States. Recent data show that U.S. builds less than 1% of commercial ships in globally, while the People's Republic of China produces about half. To solve these problems, it is necessary to A comprehensive approach is needed, including ensuring consistent, predictable and sustainable federal funding, the commercial competitiveness of flagged ships U.S. and built in the U.S. in trade rebuilding capabilities manufacturing facilities (the maritime industrial base) and the expansion and strengthening of recruitment, training and the maintenance of the necessary workforce".

If the recently announced actions announced by Trump to revitalising the national maritime industry, formalised in this decree, will be successful, not a positive effect, but rather very negative, will have, at least in the short term, the customs duties introduced by the US government in relation to the all of the United States' trading partners. The highlights the latest "Global Port Tracker" report, which is made by the American National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates and which analyzes and forecasts the development of U.S. containerized port traffic. The report explains that a drastic drop is expected, already at from next month, of goods imported into the major U.S. container ports following the imposition of Duties. In particular, containerized traffic, which is estimated to be U.S. ports handled last month is equal to 2.14 million TEUs, up +11.1% compared to March 2024. For the current month of April, which includes goods shipped before of the announcement of the new duties, traffic of 2.08 million TEUs, up +3.1% year-on-year. However, it is expects the 19-month period to end next May of trend growth, with a traffic of only 1.66 million TEUs, -20.5% less than May 2024. Next June a traffic of 1.57 million TEUs (-26.6%), the lowest volume since February 2023, and next July a traffic of 1.69 is expected million TEUs, down -27% year-on-year, and in August by 1.7 million TEUs (-26.8%). "Global Port Tracker" specifies that, before the announcement of the last round of tariffs, for April 2025 traffic of 2.13 million TEUs was expected, an increase of +5.7% compared to April 2024, for May of 2.14 million TEUs (+2.8%), for June of 2.07 million TEUs (-3.2%) and for the next July traffic of 1.99 million TEUs, down -13.9% on July 2024. The current forecasts therefore indicate a traffic for the first half of 2025 amounted to 11.73 million TEUs, down -2.9% over the first six months of 2024, instead of 12.78 million TEUs expected before the announcement of the duties, increasing by +5.7% year-on-year.

"Retailers - explained Jonathan Gold, deputy NRF Supply Chain and Customs Policy - have as their months introduced goods into the country in an attempt to mitigate the effect of the increase in tariffs, but this opportunity has come at the end with the imposition of "reciprocal" duties. The duties - he noted - are taxes on US importers, ultimately paid for by consumers. They are creating anxiety and uncertainty for both businesses and American households given the the rate at which they are applied and accumulate each other on the other. At this point, retailers are expected to step back and rely on the accumulated stocks, at least for the time necessary to see what will happen soon».

Ben Hackett, founder of Hackett Associates, said that The forecast is for a decline of at least -20% year-on-year of imports in the second half of 2025, which - specified - could bring the total volume of to record a decrease of at least -15%, unless the scenario does not change. "In this context of total uncertainty - said Hackett- our predictions regarding the will be subject to significant adjustments in the coming months. At present, we expect imports to will begin to decrease by May and will undergo a drastic decrease in the remaining part of the year".

If NRF and Hackett Associates' forecasting analysis is limited to to estimate the negative impact of the new tariff policies on national ports, the effect on world economies will be just as relevant. Ngozi pointed this out Okonjo-Iweala, director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO), noting that "the escalation of trade tensions between the United States and China represents a significant risk of a sharp contraction of bilateral trade. Our projections - he explained - suggest that the exchange of goods between These two economies could decline by up to 80%. This "An eye for an eye" approach between the two world's largest economies, whose bilateral trade accounts for about 3% of global trade," Okonjo-Iweala pointed out has wider implications that could harm global economic outlook. Our ratings, based on the latest developments, highlight substantial risks associated with further escalation. Macroeconomic effects negative - specified the director general of the Organization World Trade - will not be limited to the United States and China, but they will extend to other economies, particularly to the nations of the less developed. Of particular concern is the potential fragmentation of global trade along Geopolitical. A division of the global economy into two blocs could lead to a long-term reduction of the product global real gross domestic of almost 7%. In addition, the diversion of trade remains an immediate and pressing threat, which requires a coordinated global response. We urge all WTO members to address this challenge through the cooperation and dialogue. It is essential - he concluded Okonjo-Iweala - that the global community work together to preserving the openness of the international trading system. The WTO members have the power to protect a system open and rules-based trading. The WTO serves as a platform vital for dialogue. Solving these issues within a cooperative framework is fundamental".