Mike Jacob, President, Pacific Merchant Shipping Association (PMSA) says the new Trump Administration’s tariffs present a challenging future for West Coast ports.

US West Coast ports are likely to have a more challenging year in 2025 due to the imposition of tariffs that could especially impact Trans-Pacific trade, according to Mike Jacob, President Pacific Merchant Shipping Association (PMSA).

In an interview with AJOT, Jacob said West Coast ports had been able to take some market share back from East and Gulf Coast ports due to longshore labor issues, the shutdown of the Suez Canal and low water issues at the Panama Canal. However, the labor issues have been resolved, the Panama Canal is fully functioning, and the Suez Canal is opening up. So, the question is will the diverted cargo move back from the West to the East and Gulf?

Jacob responded as follows: “No one has a crystal ball … given all the short-term uncertainty, we want to make sure… we are keeping as much of that cargo that we saw come back to the West Coast as possible … However, … you are not going to have kind of the same situation you’ve had for the last year and a half where you’ve had all the uncertainty in the Red Sea. The situation on the East Coast with respect to the ILA and USMX is going to not be there anymore…And then you’re adding in other types of layers of uncertainty with respect to all the tariffs and the Trans-Pacific impact especially with China, that provides us with additional exposure … And then we have the concern that Transpacific trade … might be shrinking, and that is where we have the greatest market share, so that those are kind of the headwinds we must deal with.”

Some Ports Doing Better Than Others

Jacob said that “In terms of the ports, the Southern California ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach experienced volume increases in 2024.”

The Northwest Seaport Alliance, the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma “also experienced volume increases in 2024.”

The one port where volume was “relatively flat”, and missed out on a substantial increase in imports, was at the Port of Oakland: “The situation for Oakland is likely to be tougher in 2025 because tariffs imposed on China and other Pacific nations are likely to result in retaliatory tariffs that will in turn result in less exports of US agricultural products, which is a Port of Oakland mainstay.”

Jacob said that the Port of Oakland’s priority “needs to be the planned expansions of the turning basins, in order to accommodate larger container vessels and maintain its position in these vessels’ strings as they call on LA/LB and at the NWSA.”