Port Traffic Plummets for Full Month Following Trump Tariff Announcement

Newsweek

4 hours ago

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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Port traffic has plummeted significantly since President Donald Trump announced his widespread tariffs on imports, with the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma recording lower numbers over the past month.
For the last week in May, volumes were down for the fourth consecutive week, according to the Northwest Seaport Alliance. International imports had decreased 27.7 percent from the week before and 41 percent from the 2024 weekly average.
Why It Matters
Trump issued a "Liberation Day" order months ago for a 10 percent minimum tariff on all imports and up to 145 percent on Chinese goods.
Following this, the Treasury Department brought in $15.9 billion from tariffs for April, compared to $9.6 billion the previous month, according to official data reviewed by Newsweek. As the tariffs influence international trade, many countries and companies may pull out of the U.S., impacting port traffic and the larger economy.
Container ships and gantry cranes are pictured in Seattle, Washington, on November 16, 2014.
Container ships and gantry cranes are pictured in Seattle, Washington, on November 16, 2014.
Lonnie Kishiyama
What To Know
The Northwest Seaport Alliance reported that truck trips were also down 26 percent from the week before and 35.4 percent from the May 2024 weekly average.
These drops were attributed largely to ships skipping their regularly scheduled stops at the port due to the higher tariffs in effect.
"The Northwest ports had a surge earlier in the year as shipments were sped up to beat the tariffs, and now we are seeing the shipping industry crash," Drew Powers, founder of Illinois-based Powers Financial Group, told Newsweek. "It is not just a problem with imports; the number of cancelled shipments out of the port have increased by 33 percent, and I believe will only get worse before it gets better."
While Trump paused some of his tariffs in the last few months, the 10 percent baseline tariff remains in effect, hurting the bottom line for many small businesses.
"In retail, margins are everything, and while we've seen a pause on some of the higher tariffs proposed during the administration's initial proposal, they're still higher than they were just a few months ago," Alex Beene, financial literacy instructor for the University of Tennessee at Martin, told Newsweek. "Businesses are going to be more selective on the items and the amount they import, and that's already being reflected in slower port traffic."
What People Are Saying
Powers also told Newsweek: "This is a perfect example of the economic adage 'there is no such thing as a free lunch.' Placing a tariff on steel, for example, will certainly help the domestic steel producers, but at the same time will hurt the port workers who now do not have a shipment to unload. This will ripple down the line to the port's vendors and suppliers and their suppliers and vendors and so on and so on."
Beene also told Newsweek: "Tariffs are going to have a tremendous effect on some imports because businesses - particularly smaller ones that specialize in a specific industry - are going to have a harder time turning a profit on items while having to pay an additional 10 percent or more to bring it into the United States."
Michael Ryan, finance expert and founder of MichaelRyanMoney.com, told Newsweek: "The collapse in port traffic is a textbook case of tariffs doing exactly what economists warned about. When you make imports more expensive, demand falls off a cliff—and the pain doesn't stop at the docks."
Kevin Thompson, CEO of 9i Capital Group and host of the 9innings podcast, told Newsweek: "The larger implications can be summed up into one word: JOBS. Truckers, doc workers, shippers will all be impacted by the slowing economics of tariffs. People will lose their jobs, no question about it. It just depends how far downstream the tentacles stretch."
What Happens Next
As international ports navigate the new tariffs, employees and small businesses will experience the fallout, experts say.
"The individual workers and the small business owners cannot fund a dramatic downturn," Powers said. "Businesses will go under, retail spaces will go vacant, houses will be foreclosed on, and kids will delay going to college. The major corporations with deep pockets will survive and grab more market share and power at the expense of every small business owner and hard working American. This is not a good thing."
Ryan called the reduced port traffic a "blinking red light" for the economy.
"The math is simple: tariffs raise costs, demand drops, and the whole economic engine slows down," Ryan said.
"This is no longer a game of chicken, or 'cards.' The tariffs are real, the losses are mounting, and the economic fallout is hitting home."