Will near-record US container import streak snap in May due to tariffs?

US container imports surged in April as companies raced to avoid President Donald Trump's tariffs, which now include a 145 per cent duty on goods from China, but executives at the country's two busiest ports said the trend looked set to reverse in May.

April container imports jumped 9.1 per cent from a year earlier to top 2.4 million TEU, the second highest on record for the month, supply chain technology provider Descartes said on Thursday.

Imports from China, the top US maritime trade partner, jumped 6.2 per cent and accounted for 33.4 per cent of all imports in April.

The 145 per cent tariffs that Trump imposed on China on April 9 more than doubled the cost of goods from the country for US consumers and prompted retailers like Walmart, Amazon and other importers to pause or cancel some factory orders. Trump has also imposed 10 per cent tariffs on many other nations and said those rates could go higher.

Import cargo at the Port of Los Angeles, the number one US seaport complex and the nation's leading gateway for goods from China, is expected to drop 35 per cent year-over-year this week, said Gene Seroka, the port's executive director.

Overall May ship traffic could decline by roughly 20 per cent as operators of hulking cargo vessels cancel scheduled voyages due to soft demand, Seroka added.

Many of the goods that enter the Port of Los Angeles and adjacent Port of Long Beach fan out across the mainland United States via truck and train.

Port of Long Beach CEO Mario Cordero expects May volume at both ports combined to drop 30 per cent versus a year ago.

Elsewhere, shipping giant Maersk said container volumes plunged 30 to 40 per cent between the US and China in April as a trade war erupted between the world's top economies, and it warned that a protracted dispute could shrink global volumes this year. Due to the time it takes to sail across the Pacific, the drop is likely to show up in US import results in May.

When asked about the current cargo declines at West Coast ports and the ripple effects on longshore and trucking employment, Trump on Thursday told journalists: "That means we lose less money."

US ocean imports are a closely watched gauge of health for the nation's economy because they include nearly everything Americans buy and inputs for many things domestic factories make. Historically, port volumes have fallen during economic downturns and global disasters, including the Covid pandemic.

Quickly evolving US trade policies and retaliatory measures from US trading partners as well as ongoing instability in the Middle East and Eastern Europe are raising the risk for global supply chain disruption, Descartes said.

"The full impact of tariffs - and the May 2 expiration of the de minimis exemption - has yet to be reflected in import volumes from China," Descartes said, referring to popular duty-free access for low-value shipments from China and Hong Kong.

(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles and Andrea Shalal and Susan Heavey in Washington; Editing by Nia Williams and Leslie Adler)