Posted on May 7, 2025
America’s busiest ports are seeing a drastic decline in shipments as a result of President Donald Trump‘s tariffs, with significant implications for consumers as well as the U.S. logistics sector.
“We are at a point of inflection. It’s kind of dire,” Mario Cordero, Port of Long Beach CEO, told NBC on Monday. “What happens here is going to be an indication of what’s going to occur in the supply chain. We have less vessel calls, less cargo now.”
Why It Matters
The impact of Trump’s tariffs on transpacific shipments is already expected to result in higher retail prices for foreign made goods, particularly those from China—still subject to a 145 percent import tax—and elicited warnings that shoppers could soon face empty shelves.
In addition, the reduction of goods arriving on U.S. shores has also raised concerns that this could have a serious consequences for global supply chains as well as America’s supply chain-dependent industries.
What To Know
Cordero told NBC that the decline in traffic was reminiscent of the COVID-era disruptions. Similar circumstances are being felt at the neighboring Port of Los Angeles, where scheduled shipments are down 35 percent year-on-year this week, according to the Port Optimizer data platform.
The two ports, which together account for a significant portion of containerized imports to the U.S., have seen traffic decline nearly 50 percent, NBC reported, citing port officials.
“You could hear a pin drop,” said Port of Los Angeles Director Gene Seroka last week. “It’s very unusual.”
Seroka told AFP that importers, especially those supplying the retail sector, had only enough inventory to cover the next five to seven weeks, and that the effect for American consumers would be “less choice and higher prices.”
On Sunday, on an episode of Bloomberg Surveillance, Seroka said that this decline in shipments will also likely translate into job losses. “Every four containers means a job,” he said. “So when we start dialing back, it means less job opportunity.”
In addition to dockworkers, the impact of a sustained drop in shipments be felt by freight forwarders, warehouse employees, as well as truck drivers.
Import-related layoffs have surged since the beginning of April, with over 1,800 job cuts announced across the Southeast, according to supply chain-focused outlet FreightWaves.
