Ocean shipping rates from China to the U.S. West Coast have fallen 68% from their June high, a sign this year’s peak shipping season was earlier and shorter than usual.

The rate slide also signals that some U.S. retailers and manufacturers are taking a cautious approach to new orders ahead of the year’s busy fall and winter shopping periods, the WSJ Logistics Report’s Paul Berger writes. Tariff uncertainties, shifting trade policies and concerns about consumer spending are all making importers wary.

Worldwide, the average cost of shipping a 40-foot container has fallen for 11 consecutive weeks, to $2,119, according to London-based Drewry Shipping Consultants, down 40% from its mid-June high. The average short-term contract rate to ship a box from China to the U.S. West Coast on Sept. 1 was $1,802, down from a high of $5,553 in June, according to data firm Xeneta.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has cracked down on tariff evasion in recent months, targeting shell companies and transshipment schemes that disguise Chinese exports passing through third countries.

This shift toward more aggressive trade enforcement combines civil and criminal tools with the threat of tariffs on both companies and countries that enable evasion. However, global supply chains continue to offer loopholes, Oxford Analytica writes in Dow Jones Risk Journal.

CBP will move beyond desk audits and container checks at U.S. ports toward overseas investigations, exposing supply chains and companies that rely on opaque intermediaries. U.S. officials will initiate more on-the-ground investigations and scrutinize import documentation, collaborate more with foreign governments and target more sectors. It is unclear, however, how much foreign governments will crack down on domestic evasion efforts, or whether U.S. bureaucracy will be able to outpace improving evasion techniques.

• President Trump said his administration will ask the Supreme Court to swiftly overturn an appeals court ruling against most of his tariffs. (WSJ)
• India challenged U.S. tariffs on some copper products at the World Trade Organization. (Bloomberg)

U.S. factory activity contracted for a sixth month in a row in August, albeit at a slower pace, as demand ticked a little higher. The Institute for Supply Management said its purchasing managers' index of manufacturing activity edged up to 48.7 from 48.0 in July.

A reading below 50 points to contraction in sector activity, though a score above 42.3 generally tallies with expansion in the wider economy, the Journal’s Ed Frankl writes. An improvement in new orders was the biggest factor in the small increase. Employment readings also edged higher.

Of the six largest manufacturing industries, two—food and beverage products, and petroleum and coal products—expanded in August, compared with none in July. And the trade war remains a key worry, survey respondents said.

• Lumber prices, which shed more than 20% in August, have continued to fall, hitting their lowest price this year on a glut of wood piled up ahead of higher duties on Canadian imports. (WSJ)

Eurozone annual inflation edged up to 2.1% in August. (WSJ)

South Korea’s inflation slowed to 1.7% in August, the weakest since November. (WSJ)

The European Commission will push ahead with a long-awaited trade agreement with several South American countries. (WSJ)

The extra U.S. import levy on India, intended to penalize purchases of Russian oil, is backfiring due to black market dynamics. (WSJ)

Israeli jets last week struck a Houthi government meeting in San’a, killing at least 12 officials, including the prime minister and foreign minister. (WSJ)

Elon Musk said Tesla’s humanoid robot Optimus will eventually be driving most of the company’s value. (WSJ)

Kraft Heinz plans to split its business into two companies. (WSJ)

Elliott Investment Management has built a roughly $4 billion stake in PepsiCo and is pushing it to refranchise its bottling business and make other changes. (WSJ)

Air Lease will be acquired for about $7.4 billion by a consortium held by Sumitomo, SMBC Aviation Capital and funds affiliated with Apollo and Brookfield. (Dow Jones Newswires)

Polish e-commerce logistics company InPost turned more cautious on its expectations for parcel volumes in its home market. (WSJ)

Taiwanese tech firms are investing in Texas, targeting demand linked to AI and adapting to U.S. tariffs. (Nikkei Asia)

Fires are dominating maritime losses this year, with four insurance payouts exceeding $20 million so far, according to Cefor. (Lloyd’s List)

The U.S. Air Force agreed to buy $17.4 million worth of autonomous cargo aircraft systems from California’s Reliable Robotics. (DC Velocity)

The White House will reconsider the permit for the SouthCoast Wind farm off the Massachusetts coast that was approved by the Biden administration last year. (Reuters)

The International Transport Workers’ Federation called on the United Arab Emirates to intervene in the 15-month-long abandonment of 19 crew members trapped on a tanker in the Persian Gulf. (gCaptain)

China’s Yangzijiang Shipbuilding has recently won contracts worth a total of $920 million to build 22 vessels. (Seatrade Maritime News)

A proposed new federal rule would add fentanyl and a metabolite called norfentanyl to the Department of Transportation’s drug-testing panel. (The Trucker)

Mark R. Long is editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Reach him at mark.long@wsj.com. Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team on LinkedIn: Mark R. Long, Liz Young and Paul Berger.