U.S. Ports Grapple With On-Again, Off-Again Tariffs

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/29/us/politics/tariffs-ruling-ports.html

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News that President Trump’s tariffs were off and then back on again rippled on Thursday through two California ports that are the busiest in the nation, where tens of thousands of dockworkers, truck drivers and others were working busily to unload containers of imported car parts, T-shirts and computers to be sent around the United States.

Speaking from a boat that putted around the harbor of the Port of Los Angeles, Gene Seroka, the port’s chief executive officer, said the latest court rulings underscored the uncertainty that importers and the port had been grappling with this year, as tariffs on various countries shot up, only to fall back down again.

Late on Wednesday, a federal court ruled that Mr. Trump’s tariffs on many countries were illegal and gave him 10 days to reverse them. But on Thursday, a separate court that was hearing an appeal by the Trump administration temporarily paused that decision. Lawyers have now been asked to provide written arguments by early next month.

“Until we have some sense of permanency with trade and tariffs, there remains a lot of confusion,” Mr. Seroka said, as the boat maneuvered between hulking container ships where cranes were loading and unloading steel containers. He said that the court rulings on tariffs were “one piece in a very complex situation” that businesses were having to navigate.

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach together process about a third of the containers that come into the United States stuffed with foreign products, and both have seen their business fluctuate as Mr. Trump has repeatedly imposed tariffs and then revoked them. Mr. Seroka said that his port’s volume was down about a third in May compared with the prior year.

The chief executive officer at the nearby Port of Long Beach, Mario Cordero, said that the Wednesday court ruling and its suspension on Thursday “reaffirms how, day to day, things change.”

For example, he said it appeared just last week that the United States was headed for 50 percent tariffs on European products — but now that has been suspended. Last month, the president jacked up tariffs on Chinese products to a minimum of 145 percent, before reducing them to 30 percent or more this month.

“This industry has gone through a period of uncertainty that I think is unprecedented,” Mr. Cordero said.