RE:  De Minimis Saga A Gas

Bill Boesch
CEO & President
Council For Logistics Research

Eliminating the $800 duty exempt fee in my opinion is the straw that is going to break the camel’s back.  As you know, the majority of the forwarder consolidations are International shipments that fall into this category. The larger of the air cargo carriers will survive, but the days of the smaller U.S. or cargo carriers may be coming to an end.  
     I hope the people who made this decision did their homework and looked at the impact of their decision on the U.S. air cargo market Even the big carriers in the U.S. like FedEx and UPS are going to see a decrease in their International business. DHL to the U.S. will also see a decrease. This will affect their bottomline. 
     I believe this decision was reached in order to incentivize production of these shipments in the U.S., but it seems public opinion outside this country maybe at an all-time low and the global markets just will pivot and focus on other markets. 
     We see what’s happening with India and other countries. It’s causing them to deal more with China. As I’ve said for the past three years, China’s plan is to overtake the U.S. as the leading global power and these decisions might be acting as a catalyst for China to achieve that goal quicker.
     I also hope the people who are advising our president on these measures understand that air cargo represents up to 40% of the value of world trade. I hope there is representation from the air cargo industry on their advisory board.