Shipping activity at major West Coast ports has plummeted, with the Port of Los Angeles averaging just five ships a day — down from a typical dozen — and job orders for dockworkers falling by nearly 50%, according to port officials.
On a typical June day, the Port of Los Angeles would be buzzing with activity — about a dozen ships arriving from Asia, containers being unloaded, and cargo moving quickly across the country.
But lately, things have been eerily quiet.
“We’ve averaged about five ships a day,” Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, told Bloomberg News.
“Job orders for our dock workers are down nearly 50%.”
That drop isn’t just a temporary blip. It’s part of a larger slowdown linked to President Donald Trump’s trade war with China — a policy shift that’s been quietly wreaking havoc on West Coast port cities like Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma.
While most of the attention around tariffs has focused on rising prices and stock market swings, the economic damage to these cities has gone under the radar.
These ports depend heavily on trade with Asia, especially China.
And now, because of increased tariffs and uncertainty in US-China relations, the flow of goods has slowed dramatically — with real consequences for jobs, businesses and local economies.
Even a recent truce between the two countries has done little to reverse the trend. Data released Monday by the Chinese government showed that exports to the US tumbled 35% in May compared to the year before — the steepest drop since COVID lockdowns froze trade in early 2020.
That followed a 21% drop in April. While China’s shipments to places like Southeast Asia and Europe are on the rise, they haven’t been enough to balance out the loss in US-bound cargo. All told, China’s overall exports rose just 4.8% last month, well below forecasts.
The effects of the slowdown in Chinese exports are being felt across the Pacific.
Long Beach — along with Los Angeles — operates the biggest port complex in the US. Roughly 60% of its trade is with China.
In 2022 alone, the ports pumped about $300 billion into the Los Angeles County economy and brought in $93 billion in tax revenue.
One in five jobs in the region — from truck drivers to warehouse workers — is tied to the ports. More than 70% of dockworkers live within 10 miles.
But with fewer ships arriving, the impact is spreading. The Port of Oakland saw cargo volumes fall 15% in April. Los Angeles has already had 17 ship cancellations in May, and another 10 were scrapped in June.
New government data also shows a sharp nationwide drop in imports.
Mayor Rex Richardson of Long Beach told Bloomberg News that his city, home to about 450,000 people, is especially vulnerable.
He fears that trade-related companies near the port won’t hire as they normally do this summer.
“We need certainty,” Richardson said.
“We need long-range trade policy. We don’t think that is a controversial idea.”
But certainty is in short supply. Trump recently accused China of violating trade agreements and slapped even higher tariffs on steel and aluminum — now up to 50%.
Meanwhile, West Coast leaders like Seroka say their attempts to engage with the federal government have gone nowhere. Despite serving on an advisory panel for the US Trade Representative’s Office, Seroka says his calls to the Trump administration have been ignored.
Instead, he’s been holding regular press conferences to sound the alarm.
On Wednesday, he stood alongside Los Angeles City Council member Tim McOsker, who represents the port district. McOsker didn’t hold back, saying: “This is a mistake for absolutely no reason. There’s no one who can describe why we’re going through this.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was also critical of the tariffs, saying: “It’s a tax on individuals and their families.”
Seroka warned that the pain won’t stay confined to California.
Since ports are on the front line of the economy, they feel shocks early — before the ripple effects hit stores, factories and households across the country.
“As the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach go,” Seroka said, “so goes the US economy.”
A White House spokesperson defended Trump’s policies.
“President Trump’s tariffs have brought our most important trading partners to the table to strike custom-made trade deals that will level the playing field for America and boost exports of Made in America goods,” said White House spokesman Kush Desai.
“These new trade deals, plus The One, Big, Beautiful Bill – which eliminates tax on overtime and tips while allowing full expensing of equipment investments by businesses – will turbocharge growth and reinvigorate our country’s ports.”
