The Port of Los Angeles saw exports plummet 8% in January to their lowest level in nearly three years, with trade to China particularly hard hit. Port officials blame ongoing trade tensions and tariffs for the dramatic decline in outbound shipments.
Trade officials at America’s largest seaport are reporting troubling signs for international commerce, with January figures showing a significant downturn in outbound cargo shipments.
Gene Seroka, who leads the Port of Los Angeles, announced Tuesday that export volumes dropped 8% last month compared to the same period last year, marking the weakest performance in almost three years. The port processed 104,297 twenty-foot equivalent container units of outbound freight during January.
“Exports to China look dismal,” Seroka stated when discussing the monthly trade figures.
The decline reflects broader challenges stemming from the Trump administration’s tariff policies, which have disrupted international commerce patterns and prompted retaliatory measures from trading partners. American agricultural producers have been especially affected by these trade disputes.
Agricultural shipments tell a particularly stark story, with soybean exports to China from the Los Angeles port plummeting 80% over the past year, according to Seroka. He noted that trade discussions between American and Chinese officials at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in November and December failed to improve the situation.
Chad Bown, a trade policy specialist at the Peterson Institute of Economics, provided additional context on the broader trade picture. “There’s not much that the United States is exporting to China these days,” Bown observed, noting that American shipments of products ranging from agricultural goods like beef and corn to energy commodities including crude oil and coal all declined in 2025.
Incoming cargo also showed weakness, with imports reaching 421,594 container units in January, representing a 13% decrease from the particularly strong numbers recorded twelve months earlier, Seroka reported.
Looking ahead, the port director indicated that February import levels appear relatively unchanged from last year’s figures. However, he anticipates a March slowdown due to Chinese manufacturing facilities closing for Lunar New Year celebrations.
Despite these challenges, Seroka maintains a cautiously optimistic outlook for the first quarter overall, projecting that total port activity will decline by less than 10% compared to the same period last year. That earlier period saw heightened activity as American importers accelerated shipments ahead of threatened tariff implementations.
“I don’t see the economy or cargo volume dropping off a cliff after that, and even though holiday sales were softer than we would have liked, I don’t see a dire situation,” Seroka commented, referencing disappointing December retail performance that raised concerns about consumer spending, which accounts for roughly 70% of national economic activity.