Terrible timing and huge uncertainty: how ports and shipping are handling tariff turmoil

The container ship was halfway across the Atlantic when Donald Trump levied tariffs on steel and aluminium imports to the US from most countries during his first term in office. At the stroke of a pen on a US presidential executive order about £100,000 was added to the cost of one of the shipments on board, from the UK advanced materials manufacturer Goodfellow, destined for a US customer. This time the Cambridge-based company - which supplies scientific materials including metals, alloys and polymers for research - and its customers remembered the sting of experience. Several clients got in touch trying…