The location of Peak Pegasus at 2:14 p.m. EDT. Screenshot : MarineTraffic.com

China is set on Friday to implement a 25 percent tariff on U.S. soybeans, in retaliation against tariffs imposed by the U.S. earlier this month. In an effort to stave off the added costs of importing goods, a U.S. cargo ship carrying soybeans is racing to northern China to beat the deadline for when the new tariff is set to go into effect. The joys of a burgeoning trade war.


The vessel, donning the mighty name of Peak Pegasus, is expected to arrive in Dalian on Friday by about 5 p.m. local time, according to a Bloomberg report.

If it arrives as scheduled, it should be able to clear customs before the tariffs are imposed, according to the person, who asked not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak to the media. Ship-tracking data currently shows it arriving at about 5 p.m. local time.


The soybean tariff is part of China’s plan to impose tariffs on $34 billion in total of American imports. The new taxes from both the U.S. and China are set to go into effect tomorrow.

More from Bloomberg:

Soybeans have been a key battleground in escalating trade tensions between the two countries as China is the world’s biggest importer and America’s largest customer in trade worth $14 billion last year. The Asian country is expected to cancel or re-sell U.S. soybeans due to the additional duties and purchased 19 cargoes from Brazil last week. China typically imports from Brazil at this time of year before switching to the U.S., spurring concerns about a deficit in the fourth quarter.

If keeping tabs on this sort of thing is your cup of tea, luckily there’s MarineTraffic.com. The website provides an option to track the route of Peak Pegasus in real time.

Around 2:15 p.m. EDT, the vessel was situated just south of South Korea, and it’s traveling at around 12.5 knots.