Imports to Busiest US Seaport Tumble 11.5% in November as Tariffs Bite, Port Executive Says

Source: US News and World Report/Reuters

Dec. 16, 2025, at 5:47 p.m.


LOS ANGELES, Dec 16 (Reuters) - The nation's busiest ‌seaport ​handled 11.5% less import volume in ‌November than in the year-ago month after shippers built early inventories to avoid ​President Donald Trump's tariffs on goods such as toys, auto parts and metal furniture, Gene Seroka, executive director of ‍the Port of Los Angeles, said ​on Tuesday. The Port of Los Angeles handled 406,421 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of imports in November.

Exports dropped 8.4% ​to 113,706 ⁠TEUs, meanwhile, as retaliatory tariffs on U.S. agricultural products and manufactured goods as well as trade deals excluding the United States began taking hold, he said. Export volume from the port has dropped for the 11th straight month, he said. Seroka said he expects total volume at the port to top 10 million TEUs ‌for 2025 - roughly in line with 2024 and its third-highest on record, despite the volume rollercoaster ​from U.S. ‌tariff policy.

"I think the uncertainty ‍is here to ⁠stay, at least for the next year," Seroka said. "This is a headwind we may face for some time to come." Imports to all U.S. ports fell 7.8% in November from the year earlier, due to soft demand for goods from China and one fewer day in the Thanksgiving holiday month, supply-chain technology provider Descartes Systems Group said earlier this month.

The U.S. Supreme Court in the coming months is expected to rule on the legality of tariffs ​the Trump administration imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. If the justices rule against the administration, Washington would turn to other laws to justify new tariffs, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said earlier this month.

Read more: https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2025-12-16/imports-to-busiest-us-seaport-tumble-11-5-in-november-as-tariffs-bite-port-executive-says