Sadly I don't think it works like that. Ignoring the usual long lead time on tariffs, and the difficulty in applying such rules (Socks now have 10x import duty. Ah but not medical support stockings. And socks on baby clothes are exempt, but if the socks are sold as a bundle ...)
The real problem is that the cruft is already in the system. If we did something clever and said all non-urgent shipments get delayed and the urgent ones come through we would have
1. Some containers have both important and cruft in them.
2. The cruft containers are on the upper port side of the ship. If we don't unload those the ship will topple. If we unload but don't onward ship we have a ton of containers literally sitting on the dock.
3. If we sort that out, the cruft orders are part of the game now - the container of socks is going to come back loaded with medical computers. But now they don't have a container to come back in.
No the solution to this is transparency. A global blockchain / ledger (not The blochchain), would let people see some of the worst problems ahead. But that tech exists, but not the usage of the tools or the trust.
