Latin American Freight Forwarders Remain Resilient Against Trump Tariff Pressures but Flag Rising Logistics Costs and Capacity Constraints as Key Risks

Latin American freight forwarders have broadly shrugged off the impact of successive waves of US tariff actions, indicating that the continent has done sufficient work to protect itself from the worst outcomes of US trade policy. However, industry players are increasingly focused on capacity constraints, rising logistics costs, and inland infrastructure gaps as the more immediate operational challenges.

It is expected a hotly contested bid for its Tecon 10 terminal — has continued to report solid growth in cargo and container volumes. However, a recent two-day trucker mobilisation around the port, despite ending without developing into a wider shutdown, highlighted the dependence of Brazilian logistics on haulage costs and regulation. One forwarder noted that, while the "overall picture" for the region is one of stability, "transit times are becoming less predictable as stronger cargo volumes meet tighter ocean capacity and uneven inland infrastructure."

On the tariff front, the United States imposed 25% tariffs on Brazilian goods effective 22 July 2026, covering furniture, machinery, footwear, and sugar under a Section 301 investigation that cited unfair trade practices including anti-corruption enforcement gaps, intellectual property concerns, and illegal deforestation. Brazil is simultaneously subject to a 10% Section 122 global tariff set to expire on 23 July. Brazilian forwarders were broadly unfazed, pointing to a significant exemption list — with key exports including beef and orange juice spared — and noting that the year-long investigation gave industry sufficient time to prepare.

Schedule reliability on the Latin America–North America trade lane showed improvement, according to Sea-Intelligence's Global Liner Performance report for June 2026, with northbound reliability increasing 4.4% month on month to 75.3%, an improvement of 12.8% year on year. The average delay of late northbound vessels also shrank from the previous reading, to 3.29 days, which is 3.01 days lower than a year ago.