Port of Los Angeles says shipping volume will plummet 35% next week as China tariffs start to bite

Shipments from China to the West Coast of the U.S. will plummet next week as the affect of President Donald Trump’s tariffs leads corporations to minimize their import orders.

Gene Seroka, government director of the Port of Los Angeles, stated Tuesday on CNBC’s “Squawk Field” that he expects incoming cargo volume to slide by greater than a 3rd next week in contrast with the identical interval in 2024.

“In accordance to our personal port optimizer, which measures the loadings in Asia, we’ll be down just a bit bit over 35% next week in contrast to final 12 months. And it is a precipitous drop in volume with a quantity of main American retailers stopping all shipments from China based mostly on the tariffs,” Seroka stated.

Shipments from China make up about 45% of the enterprise for the Port of LA, although some transport corporations will be trying to decide up items at different factors in Southeast Asia to strive to refill their ships, Seroka stated.

“Realistically talking, till some accord or framework could be reached with China, the volume popping out of there — save a pair of totally different commodities — will be very gentle at finest,” Seroka stated.

Together with the decrease volume of items, Seroka stated he expects roughly 1 / 4 of the standard quantity of arriving ships to the port to be canceled in Could.

Trump introduced a pointy enhance in tariffs on Chinese language items on April 2, which led to escalation on either side, ultimately leading to each the U.S. and China imposing levies of greater than 100% on many items from one another. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has described the scenario as “unsustainable” however there was no signal of substantial negotiations between the 2 nations.

Knowledge on shipments out of China had already began to sign slowing commerce volume to the U.S., alarming some economists. Apollo International Administration’s chief economist, Torsten Slok, lately laid out a timeline the place decrease imports from China leads to layoffs in transportation and retail industries within the U.S., empty cabinets and a recession this summer season.

Seroka stated he thinks U.S. retailers have about 5 to seven weeks earlier than the affect of the curtailed shipments begins to bite, partly as a result of corporations stocked up forward of Trump’s tariff bulletins.

“I do not see a whole vacancy on retailer cabinets or on-line once we’re shopping for. However in case you’re out in search of a blue shirt, you may discover 11 purple ones and one blue in a dimension that is not yours. So we’ll start seeing much less alternative on these cabinets just because we’re not getting the range of items coming in right here based mostly on the extra prices in place. And for that one blue shirt that is nonetheless left, you may see a value hike,” Seroka stated.