After months of record-shattering trade, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are seeing even bigger drops than expected in cargo coming in this week due to the tariffs imposed by the Trump Administration.
“This week, we'll see a drop of 35% of our import cargo compared to the same time last year,” Gene Seroka, the executive director of the Port of L.A., told KNX News’ Jon Baird. “It's the first arrival of container ships where the tariff was applied.”
Seroka added that due to the drop, the workforce will be doing less work than they were doing last week.
“A trucker will be hauling fewer containers,” he said. “Our dock workers will not see the overtime and the back-to-back shifts that they've been enjoying for so long now. This cargo volume is a direct impact on jobs and our local economy.”
Mario Cordero, Port of Long Beach CEO, told NBC 4 that they are “at a point of inflection.
“What happens here is going to be an indication of what's going to occur in the supply chain,” he said. “We have less vessel calls, less cargo now.”
Gary Herrera, president of ILWU Local 13, which represents the longshore workers, told the Los Angeles Times that workers are concerned about job losses.
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“Some of the workforce will not be getting their full 40 hours a week based on the loss of cargo,” he said.
A former longshoreman told Baird his friends have seen the impacts already.
“Well, the casuals aren't getting out very much, hardly not at all,” he said. “Other than that, they were getting like 23 days a week eight months ago, and now they're getting almost nothing. But the regulars are getting out. But they expect a big slowdown, especially from China shipping.”
The tariffs, which were announced in April, include a 145% tariff on Chinese imports and a 25% tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico that are not compliant with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press with Kristen Welker” that aired on Sunday, President Trump said he would lower tariffs at “some point.”
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