In just a few days, the break-up was complete. Previous clashes between the world's two leading powers, which had long remained largely rhetorical in nature, suddenly gave way to a significant fracture. Trade, which had maintained the United States and China's interdependence, suddenly came to a halt. In recent weeks, gantries at the port of Shanghai, the world's largest, have hurried to load as many containers as possible onto ships bound for the US, to get them in before they fall prey to the tariffs promised by US President Donald Trump.

This race against time ended on Thursday, April 10, the day after Trump's prohibitive tariffs came into effect, and the day when those China imposed in retaliation were applied, as detailed in Caixin, the country's most independent and respected magazine. Since then, in Shanghai's two largest port terminals, one located on the Yangtze river estuary and the other on an island some 30 kilometers offshore, almost no ships have taken on cargo destined for the US.

Containers that could not be shipped before April 10 remained stuck on the docks, and their owners have been scrambling to find alternative markets. Drewry, a shipping consultancy firm whose data are seen as authoritative, predicted that transfers representing 53% of the transport capacity between China and North America will be canceled in the next five weeks. "It is clear that volumes will decrease," added Maria Lee, a mobility and logistics expert at Sia Partners, "but it is difficult to make forecasts because there is no economic rationale in the American decision."

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