Camelot Tariff Survey
Thank you to everyone that participated in the Tariff survey we conducted on April 23, 2025. The survey was conducted via an online survey that was requested through an email invitation sent to Camelot 3PL warehouse customers in the US and Canada.
As of the time of the survey 55% of the 3PLs said they are not currently experiencing any changes (positive or negative effects) on their business. The follow up question, as to if they anticipate any effects (positive or negative) in the future, 45% said that they will have a negative effect on their business. We also asked for any comments related to the tariff and those are listed below.
From the questions and follow up comments, the current tariff situation is not having a significant effect. However, for those that are experiencing an effect it is mostly negative. Additionally, an even smaller number (11%) of survey responders anticipate any positive effects in the future.
Comments:
| Some of my clients have said their mark up is enough to cover the tariffs, others are unsure as of yet |
| Many of our clients are having import issues, which is slowing down incoming product. |
| A lot of product i get comes from China and they have slowed shipments down |
| To compliment the tariffs in Canada. We have seen an increase in domestic storage vs cross border sales. |
| There may be some negative effects initially, but I feel in the long run, it will be positive. |
| We have clients that are canceling inbound shipments and are expecting a ripple effect similar to covid, when relief occurs with stacked up production and shipping lanes when the faucet gets turned back on. |
| Generally, negative impacts to the economy drive increased levels of product storage by our customers, but slowing levels of throughput/turnover. |
| I believe Tariffs were a costly mistake, that we the people should have to foot the bill for. |
| I understand the goal of bringing manufacturing back to the US. But forcing tariffs on business now is just killing the economy. It takes at least two years to bring the manufacturing back (building plants etc), so why not set the tariffs two years out? Also it doesn’t make sense to impose tariffs on products that we cannot produce, like seafood. |
| Extra product being received in a short amount of time – similar to Covid supply chain – but I think eventually the consumer demand will not meet the expectations because of inflating costs – so negative impact. |
| Cost might go up for a short time and the stock market may be volatile for a while, but eventually things will stabilize, and the US will be able to better balance a budget. |
| The Tarriff situation is going to hurt every type of business and it will take a while for the businesses to get back to normal. |
| Most of our suppliers are actively looking to move manufacturing from China. I don’t see it having much of an impact on our business as a whole, but some of our customers will be impacted adversely. |
| If the tariffs are actually charged, the costs will be very detrimental in additional expense as well as lost business due to our customers shipping less. In the interim, the confusion and lack of confidence not knowing what will be happening in the future is making planning extremely difficult and business levels have been extremely inconsistent. |
| They will end up serving their purpose |
| Not a fan! |
| The tariffs could affect our customers so in turn could affect us. |
| Some customers brought in extra inventory early to get ahead of the tariffs, which is good. Some customers are asking for rate relief due to increased costs related to tariffs, which is bad. |
| Canadian client has lost significant orders |
| So far the tariffs are not projected to have much effect on our business. |
| To early to tell. We received a knee jerk reaction from some of the Canadian suppliers trying to beat the tariffs |
| no effect at this time |
| many of our customers have stopped all shipments from China |
| If prices rise goods will move more slowly causing need for overflow storage, but not a lot of in/out activity. So there is mixed opportunity |
| Some of our customers are holding off increasing their inventories until things settle down with tariffs. |
| It will effect some business and will allow us to leverage others |
| We are not experiencing any impact from the tariffs currently. However that may change later on with packing materials stored at our location by our customers. |
| Give it some time and costs will lower for everyone and then volumes will increase for 3PLS |
| We warehouse and ship direct to consumer for most of our clients, who are ordering their products from factories in China. While it may be a bit early to see an impact to our clients, it is likely that in the coming weeks and months that the higher costs will ultimately impact order volumes. |
| next 90-120 days will know how things shake out |
| just this week we are seeing a dramatic reduction in inbound containers from China. outbounds to retailrs are still high. it won’t be long before we are out of inventory. Some of our customers are looking for domestic product. we will see. |
| I don’t think the tariffs will last that much longer |
| We anticipate the tariff issue to be short term |
| We were excited for the new administration to make some positive changes. We haven’t seen that happen yet. |
| A relatively small portion of our business is imported goods but the effect will definitely be negative. |
| We have several customers who import food ingredients, so it may impact their business and reduce storage needs. |
| Although there will likely be some negative impacts on our existing clients, they will open up opportunities elsewhere and we do not anticipate the influx of new customers to decline as a result. |
| I voted for him, but not liking the economic outlook at this point… |
| I anticipate order volume to drop for international customers as well as potential supply issues for our clients that source from overseas |
| I have not heard any affect yet. |
| We have not experienced any issues due to the tariffs. |
| No positive or negative effects |
| Primarily our freight operations are being impacted by the tariff situation. Any customer we haul imports for is at risk…some have canceled bookings, etc. Within our global economy tariffs are going to hurt in the short-term. It will be years before domestic manufacturers grow to the level of needing warehouse space that global trade is utilizing. We are in for a fun ride. |
| Seem to be getting prospects for Canada and overseas to establish US based operations. |
| We are mixed on the overall positive and negative effects of the Tariffs. Due to increased Tariffs, we are receiving a lot more inquiries for our Bonded Storage. Not sure, what New business we will gain from that aspect yet. However, we have noticed some of our current Customers’ Volumes declining on the import and export side due to tariffs. |
| It’s about time the rest of the world start paying their fair share |
| Seeing shipping costs affected with the duties and taxes, especially to Canada at this time. The customer pays for these so it does not impact our bottom line, but I suspect that we will lose business as customers in other countries look for alternatives to keep shipping costs down. |
| The current pending situation regarding U.S tariffs is ridiculous |
| Not an intelligent process to implement |
| Tariffs are self defeating |
| DOGE deserves to get their work done with full transparency and assistance. |
| Being a Canadian based company and having US accounts, the volume of exports from the US into Canada have lessened due to the tariffs and other factors. |
| The tariffs may affect the goods my customers are bringing into the U.S. to sell. It is too early to tell whether my customers can find vendors in the U.S. that can supply the goods at similar pricing as the imported goods they were buying. My customers are also looking at importing goods from countries that have more favorable tariff agreements with the U.S. This may take a little while to be sorted out. |