Views: 0 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2026-07-29 Origin: Site
The Office of the United States Trade Representative issued a notice on July 23, imposing new tariffs ranging from 10% to 12.5% on imported goods from 60 countries and regions around the world under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act, using unreasonable excuses, to replace the old tariffs that have expired and officially come into effect on July 24. This unilateral trade measure ignores international trade rules, carries obvious double standards and trade bullying attributes, and has been widely opposed by academia and business communities in Serbia, South Africa, Finland and other countries. Industry insiders from multiple countries unanimously believe that this weaponization of tariffs artificially severs the global industrial and supply chains, coupled with energy fluctuations caused by the geopolitical situation in the Middle East, further exacerbating global economic and trade uncertainty, and bringing systemic negative impacts to cross-border trade, international shipping, and equipment logistics industries.
Rotary drilling rigs and pile drivers are large-scale complete engineering equipment with high individual value, complex components, and long export trade links. They are particularly affected by the new tariff policies. The widespread imposition of tariffs by the United States has directly raised the entry costs of various infrastructure equipment and supporting components, resulting in a significant increase in equipment import taxes and fees. For equipment export enterprises targeting the US and related trade markets, in a market environment where terminal prices are difficult to raise arbitrarily, the additional tariff costs can only be absorbed by the enterprises themselves, directly compressing the profit margin of product exports. At the same time, the uncertainty of tariff policies makes it difficult for enterprises to lock in costs and quotations in the long term, and the stability of bidding and overseas order signing has significantly decreased, seriously restricting the pace of overseas market expansion for equipment such as rotary drilling rigs and pile drivers.
With the implementation of the new tariff policy, the US Customs has simultaneously strengthened its import compliance review efforts, and comprehensively tightened the qualification verification, traceability review, and document inspection standards for large industrial equipment. Rotary drilling rigs and pile drivers, due to their special structures, multiple types of accessories, and complex equipment parameters, have a more complicated customs declaration process compared to ordinary goods. After the policy upgrade, the frequency of equipment customs clearance and inspection has increased, and the audit cycle has been extended, which easily leads to problems such as port detention, inspection delay, and container detention. This not only significantly prolongs the overall efficiency of cross-border logistics for equipment, resulting in delayed delivery of equipment for overseas infrastructure projects, but also generates additional demurrage fees, storage fees, and logistics scheduling costs, further increasing the logistics burden on enterprises.
The combination of tariff barriers and global economic and trade fluctuations has completely disrupted the traditional shipping and logistics pattern of large-scale engineering equipment. Most international shipping companies have adjusted their US shipping rules to avoid policy risks, tightened the acceptance standards for large overweight and oversized equipment, reduced the number of special vessel cabins and route schedules, resulting in increasingly tight sea freight cabins for large equipment such as rotary drilling rigs and pile drivers. At the same time, market risk aversion has pushed up shipping risk premiums, and US shipping rates continue to fluctuate upwards. In order to avoid high tariffs and strict audits, some logistics companies have been forced to adjust their transportation routes, transit nodes, and transportation plans. The originally mature and efficient direct logistics links have been disrupted, and the planning difficulty and operational risks of cross-border equipment transportation have significantly increased.
Cross border logistics of large-scale engineering equipment is not a single transportation link, but a complete supply chain system that covers equipment transportation, parts supply, after-sales maintenance, and cross-border transfer. The unilateral tariff policy of the United States has disrupted the global free trade order, affecting not only the export of rotary drilling rigs and pile drivers, but also the cross-border circulation of core equipment components and maintenance consumables. The equipment maintenance and accessory supply time of overseas construction projects are hindered, which can easily lead to equipment downtime, construction interruptions, and other problems. In the current era of interconnected global infrastructure supply chains, unilateral trade protectionism has disrupted the supply-demand balance, shifting the cross-border logistics of large engineering equipment from stable and normalized operation to high volatility, high risk, and high cost operation, and constraining the coordinated development of the global infrastructure industry.
