The tariff storm was unable to shake the prosperity of the Port of Long Beach in the United States, with container throughput reaching a record high in 2025.

Despite the radical trade policies led by US President Trump causing financial markets and the global trade situation to experience severe turmoil in the short term in 2025, the two large ports in Los Angeles still had a record-breaking year of prosperity. The global trade system ended the most transformative and dramatic year in over a century, but as we enter 2026, there are more and more serious challenges threatening trade stability and global economic growth. Noel Hacegaba, CEO of the Port of Long Beach, stated on Thursday that the port saw a historic high in throughput in 2025, transporting a record-breaking 9.9 million container units. The increase in cargo volume was partly driven by a strong push from "importers stocking up before the new tariff policies of the Trump administration came into effect." Another large port, the Port of Los Angeles, has been the busiest port in the United States for 23 consecutive years. US imports soared in early 2025, which was a crucial period that drove the record-breaking container shipping volume at the Port of Long Beach, far exceeding any historical transportation level. The protectionist trade policies quickly implemented by Trump prompted US companies to import goods before the new taxes were imposed. Subsequently, imports did decrease, but did not fall below the levels of the same period in 2024. Nearby, the Port of Los Angeles handled 10.2 million units the third-highest container record in the history of the port and ranked as the busiest U.S. transportation port for 23 years in a row. According to statistics provided by the port, the Port of Los Angeles handled 791,587 cargo units in December alone, including loaded imports, exports, and empty containers. Hacegaba noted that retaliatory tariffs from other countries against the US compressed the quantity of key American goods exported through the Port of Long Beach, such as soybeans, and highlighted other changes in the global trade landscape. "Six years ago, about 70% of the goods both imports and exports at our port were closely related to the Chinese market," he said in a prepared statement. "Today, this proportion has dropped to 60%. Therefore, we see more goods coming from Vietnam, Thailand, and other countries in Southeast Asia." US tariff rates stabilized in the latter half of 2025, mainly because the Trump administration canceled some of the most stringent radical tariff policies shortly after the "Liberation Day" in April, and the administration's stance on tariffs cooled significantly during this period. However, there is still considerable uncertainty about the future of government trade policies, including whether the Supreme Court will revoke some tariff policies and order the Trump administration to immediately refund tariffs. "The year of tariff consequences? Global trade in 2026 is destined for unrest." Nevertheless, Hacegaba said that a forecast data for the port indicates that 2026 will be one of the top five years for cargo throughput at the Port of Long Beach. As 2026 arrives, the global trade system continues to face many challenges in stability and growth, and there are continuous changes, including the shrinking of US imports under the sustained pressure of tariffs. Some trade experts predict that 2026 may bring more and larger-scale trade turmoil, including a reassessment of the USMCA trade agreement, the continued impact of the Trump administration's tariff policies on global supply chains, and the risk of trade agreements being canceled due to the lack of enforcement provisions. The ruling of the Supreme Court on the Trump administration's tariff policy is of great importance to foreign trade teams and investors holding stocks closely related to US trade, as it is one of the biggest unknowns in the global trade arena, with potential consequences including refunds to US importers and changes in the details of Trump administration tariffs. "Year of tariff consequences? In 2026, global trade is destined for unrest." For other major players in the container shipping industry and global trade transportation tools, the coming year may bring two very intense impacts, which, while sounding like welcome developments for shareholders in shipping stocks, may actually disrupt global supply chains, as Lars Jensen, CEO of Vespucci Maritime, stated. The first change will be the return of the world's cargo fleet to the Red Sea, rather than the longer route around South Africa that ships had to take in the past two years. Since the Gaza Peace Plan took effect in October, attacks by Houthi forces in the Red Sea have significantly decreased, making the old route more attractive to large cargo ships. Global shipping giants such as the French company CMA CGM and the Danish company Maersk have already begun sending a small number of ships through the Red Sea. However, Jensen said at a Flexport webinar in November that a full restoration of the Red Sea route and the faster Suez Canal route will "bring much larger capacity to the market" but will result in "huge port congestion in Europe." The second blow could be demand-driven, according to Jensen. If the US economy accelerates in 2026 as predicted by Trump administration officials towards a "soft landing" if this growth is driven by investment prosperity and lower rates, the resulting inventory replenishment could overwhelm the shipping industry's capacity to respond. Furthermore, several important trade agreements for US economic growth completed in 2025 were achieved through challenging negotiations for large investment commitments and better market access conditions as demanded by Trump, with the reciprocal lowering of tariffs for those countries than when they retaliated in trade conflicts. However, these are not traditional trade agreements with enforcement provisions and specific details, and the agreements with the US' largest trading partner, China, are only temporary trade truces for a year, not comprehensive trade cooperation agreements, causing more and more investors to be concerned about the potential for these agreements to eventually collapse.