NEW YORK ? Small importers for large U.S. retailers rushed in China-made strollers and wares meant for spring and are storing the goods in their own warehouses to avoid the big tariff bills that had been threatened over the next month.

Before Sino-American talks on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur eliminated the threat of U.S. President Donald Trump?s 100 per cent tariffs on Chinese imports starting Nov. 1, importers were expecting to shoulder the staggering levies.

In response, importers of goods sold at retailers Walmart, Amazon and Target chose to risk loading their balance sheets with inventory that may take months to move out, and pay more for warehousing costs. They?re also betting consumer spending holds up in the spring as lower-income consumers rein in spending and the economy remains uncertain overall.

?We are trying to front-load spring orders,? said Leslie Stiba, CEO of high-end stroller-maker Austlen Baby Co. ?We brought in as much as we could manage.?

Stiba said she placed orders for 20 per cent to 25 per cent more strollers for spring 2026 - her biggest season - compared to the last. Overall, she is holding 50 per cent more inventory than before the start of Trump?s trade war, and has held off on hiring due to the new expenses.

Front-loading has become the norm for months now, as businesses have tried to get in front of Trump?s vacillating levies. Importers bulked up shipments from China during the six-month tariffs truce between the two countries, triggering a surge in shipping rates and port activity.

Reuters reporting, in the days before the framework of a tariff truce was hashed out on Sunday, shows the phenomenon continued for spring 2026 shipments.

Like many importers of China-made goods, Stiba had to stop shipments earlier this year when Trump first imposed tariffs of about 145 per cent. The halt hurt her business because she did not have enough inventory to fill orders.

Ahead of schedule

Some Chinese suppliers took a more relaxed view, baking tariff-related uncertainty into their business plans.

?Whatever happens on November 1 will happen, and if it doesn?t, it doesn?t,? said a toymaker in southern China, who did not want to be named for privacy reasons.

?I don?t think very many people are assuming that tariffs will rise dramatically. ... People might be doing some front-loading deals with the assumption that we will have a three-month extension window, but there wasn?t enough time to move orders forward to meet the November 1 deadline even if you wanted to.?

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday he anticipates that a tariff truce with China will be extended beyond the Nov. 10 expiration date.

Deng Jinling, manager of a Chinese company that exports thermos flasks to the United States, told Reuters before Sunday?s development that her shipments were still going out normally and she wasn?t worried about further levies.

?There?s no rush,? she said. ?Most of the goods have already been shipped. Only about 20 per cent of the U.S.-bound cargo is left.?

Not all U.S. importers ramped up shipments.

Spreetail, which distributes large items like trampolines, was waiting to see if the tariffs would stick, said chief merchandising officer Owen Carr.

Spring merchandise - from warmer-weather apparel to Easter baskets - usually arrives stateside at the end of the year, with volumes peaking right before China?s Lunar New Year celebration in winter.

?Until there is a clear path forward or a resolution (to the trade war), we can expect to see more front-loading,? said Noel Hacegaba, chief operating officer at the Port of Long Beach, the U.S.?s second-busiest. ?It has resulted so far this year in a tsunami of cargo.?

This year, record volumes including spring goods are far ahead of schedule, he said.

Mitigating risks

Retailers are ordering more from suppliers? domestic warehouses, rather than picking up directly from China, executives at toymakers Hasbro and Mattel have said on recent calls. That allows them to mitigate tariff risks and control the pace of stocks on their shelves as shoppers tighten budgets.

Holiday toymaker Hey Buddy Hey Pal, which imports Easter-egg decorating kits from China, already has 50 per cent of its goods for the spring ready to be shipped from a warehouse in Dallas, said Curtis Gill, co-founder of the company.

Balsam Hill, which supplies artificial Christmas trees and seasonal decor, recently decided to move forward with spring orders of floral wreaths it had been holding back on placing, said CEO Mac Harman.

?We did a scaled-back order for spring,? Harman said, adding that he raised prices.

(Reporting by Jessica DiNapoli, Siddharth Cavale and Arriana McLymore in New York; additional reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles, and Casey Hall and Sophie Yu in Beijing; Editing by Sayantani Ghosh and Nick Zieminski) (CTV News)

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