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Port Downturn No Surprise for Port of LA’s Seroka

[ May 13, 2025   //   ]

The severe downturn in U.S. imports following Trump’s 145 percent tariffs against China and similar exorbitant rates across the Pacific Rim and the world has been no surprise for the nation’s port officials.

            “It’s not a surprise to us. We knew what the impact of the tariffs were going to be,” Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angles, said during a May 6 interview with MSNBC.

            Despite warnings across dozens of agriculture exporters and retailers warned about the textbook negative impacts tariffs make, Trump blundered ahead.

            Seroka anticipated imports through the San Pedro port will be down 35 percent in the week following his interview.

“One fifth of normally scheduled vessel arrivals for this month have been canceled, and cargo coming in is about 35 percent lower than last year at this time,” he told MSNBC.

“Retailers big and small have been telling me that we’ve got about four-five-six weeks left of normal inventory levels. If this continues for any duration, we’ll have fewer items to select from, some spot shortages and likely prices will increase as they are affected by these tariffs from a host of countries across the Pacific Rim.

            That means fewer jobs and less work for thousands of dockworkers, heavy equipment operators and truck drivers across the U.S., and particularly in San Pedro, where the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach combined moved nearly 20 million twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEUs, last year.

According to one study, a decline of just 1 percent in cargo to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach would wipe away 2,769 jobs and endanger as many as 4,000 others.

“They’re just wondering what’s going to happen,” International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 13 President Gary Herrera said of his members. “Some of the workforce will not be getting their full 40 hours a week based on the loss of cargo. Job loss is definitely a concern.”

Anxiety is running high for the truck drivers that make their living delivering cargo containers from the Los Angeles and Long Beach harbors to warehouses and other customers around Southern California.

Seroka said the circumstances are familiar with Covid’s initial impact on trade, which dropped by 50 percent at the Port of Los Angeles.

“It may not be as violent a drop off as covid, but it’s still a big one,” he told MSNBC.

Then again, the Covid pandemic forced retailer to come up with innovations such as online ordering and curbside pickup.

            Even with Trump announcing on May 12 that tariffs between the U.S. and China would be ratcheted down for 90 days, there’s no quick solution.

            Seroka said it would take about two weeks for carriers to reposition their vessels to renew calls at Chinese and U.S. ports. The vessels are “off doing other things; they’re just parked right now due to the low volume.”

And, once the vessels get moving again, it is still going to take a while to replenish depleted inventories across the U.S., he said.

            All of this creates another challenge for ports, Seroka said. The Port of Los Angeles is in finally planning for its budget starting July 1.

Gene Seroka, Executive Director, Port of Los Angeles

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