U.S. retailers have accelerated their import of goods in advance to circumvent the new 10%-12.5% tariffs effective July 24 (replacing the temporary tariffs expiring July 23) and to cope with supply chain uncertainties. This has led to the early arrival of the traditional peak season for U.S. retail imports (typically in late summer or autumn) this year. According to the latest Global Port Tracker report from the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates, U.S. ports handled 2.23 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) of container imports in June, a 13.2% increase year-over-year.