US port most dependent on China trade braces for new tariff impact after 90-day truce
Container traffic up in April ahead of US import tariffs, but first week of May saw a 30 per cent plunge in container volume
When Gene Seroka, the executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, held his monthly news briefing on Monday – his first since a 90-day tariff truce between China and the US took effect on May 14 – he let the numbers speak for themselves.
They had a lot to say about the uncertainty wrought by US President Donald Trump’s erratic tariffs policy and trade tensions with China, where nearly 45 per cent of the port’s business comes from.
In April, Seroka said, the port moved 9.5 per cent more container units than the same period last year, the third best April on record, surpassed only by the pandemic-driven surges of 2021 and 2022.
While exports fell by 3 per cent year-on-year, imports enjoyed a 5 per cent increase from the same period last year.
Good news? Hardly. As Seroka told reporters, the figures presage something of a tariff-tinged shipping panic.
“That boost is largely due to importers getting a last push of cargo before the tariffs hit,” he said.
Over the first weeks and months of his second term, Trump renewed a tariff war with China, prompting swift retaliation from Beijing.