In May, imports to the United States were basically the same as they were in April, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. That followed a big decline from March, as importers pulled back on the frontloading they had been doing earlier in the year to get ahead of potential tariffs.

But there’s still some frontloading happening — depending on the product.

Imports are still way down for many goods, particularly in categories like furniture and kitchen appliances.

Jason Miller, a professor at Michigan State University, said most of those products are imported from China. And while the Trump administration has lowered some tariffs on Chinese goods, many still face duties of around 50%.

As a result, Miller said, many importers are opting out altogether.

“Imports of those types of goods are down 20% in May from where they were just a couple years ago,” Miller said.

But in some categories, imports have picked up again — including cars and computers.

Meagan Schoenberger at KPMG said some companies are concerned that tariffs on computing equipment could increase, especially if the administration imposes new import taxes on semiconductors.

“New rounds of semiconductor tariffs could include derivatives of semiconductors, which would include electronics,” Schoenberger said. “So that could be part of the reason why we’re seeing this big jump.”

There’s still plenty of fear and uncertainty around tariffs that could be causing some importers to frontload again. But other importers simply need to keep their shelves stocked.

“There are certain cheeses, there’s olive oils, olives — there’s agricultural products that just don’t grow in the United States,” said Pat Whelan, president of Sahadi’s, a grocery store in New York City that carries many products from the Middle East.

Whelan said he’s not stockpiling goods just in case tariffs go up, but he still has to import what customers expect.

“That’s going to go on regardless,” he said. “I mean, obviously, if they’re 200% more expensive, you’ll sell a little bit less of them, but there will still be people that want them.”

Still, between tariffs, elevated interest rates and a weak dollar, Whelan said he’s anticipating some pain.