HONG KONG, May 6 (Reuters) - Hong Kong's freight

forwarding industry is reeling from the U.S.-China trade war

with 41% of container capacity from the city to North America's

west coast cancelled for the week starting May 12, the South

China Morning Post reported.

Hong Kong, a global shipping hub which plays a key role in

re-exporting goods, is likely to see a huge economic hit, the

SCMP reported, quoting Joyce Tai, executive vice-president for

worldwide partnerships at freight booking platform Freightos ( CRGO ).

Tai said there would be a "huge economic hit" due to Hong

Kong's pass-through role, with the impact probably a lot heavier

than on the mainland.

Washington and Beijing have been locked in a cat-and-mouse

game over tariffs, with neither side willing to be seen to back

down in a trade war that has roiled global markets and wreaked

havoc on supply chains.

U.S. President Donald Trump's move to impose punishing

tariffs of 145% on many Chinese products saw Beijing respond

with levies on imports of U.S. goods of 125%, as Beijing

labelled Trump's tariff strategy "a joke."

The tit-for-tat increases stand to make goods trade between

the world's two largest economies impossible, analysts say, with

import duties beyond about 35% potentially wiping out Chinese

exporters' profit margins and making American products in China

similarly exorbitant.

Judah Levine, Freightos ( CRGO ) head of Research said that carriers

were cancelling "very high levels of sailings that were

scheduled from China to North America in the coming weeks,"

according to the SCMP.

The paper also reported Sea-Intelligence, a supply chain

research company, saying 32% of sailings would be cancelled in

the coming two weeks.