Amid 145% tariffs on goods coming from China, Northwest Seaport Alliance co-chair and Port of Tacoma president John McCarthy expects a decline in shipping from China, and with it a possible loss of jobs and fewer products hitting store shelves.
The impact of that decline will likely ripple through the economy, McCarthy said. Consumers are already bracing for fewer options and higher prices on store shelves. The Northwest Seaport Alliance runs the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma. Of all the Alliance’s imports, 51% come from China. And 40% of overall trade is with China, McCarthy said, which could impact job security for port workers.
“The most direct jobs are those that are closest to the shipping terminals. That includes the longshore workers in Seattle and Tacoma,” McCarthy said. “We’ve got truck drivers. We’ve got all the people that make terminal operations function. There definitely will be a direct impact as this tariff war continues.”
4 questions with John McCarthy
Are you concerned about container ships from China being turned around mid-sail, also called blank sailings, due to the tariffs?
“We do expect to see blank sailings. And as this continues with less traffic, the vessels are going to get smaller. The amount of cargo is gonna get smaller, and so, we could drop substantially.”
What specific items are we talking about that come into Tacoma and Seattle that could drop off substantially?
“At the Pacific Northwest, we imported about 338,000 cars last year. That has grown substantially over the last three or four years.
“Our largest import commodities do include things like furniture, other machinery, plastic articles, toys, games, things of that nature.
“We’re also probably the second-largest agricultural export gateway from the United States. We export all sorts of things such as hay, potatoes, French fries, frozen French fries.”
We’ve seen some counter tariffs out of Beijing and China canceling orders from American farmers. Have you seen the impact of that in the Pacific Northwest?
“The last time we had a tariff war situation in about 2018, we lost a lot of markets for things like apples. That’s a big product for export in Washington state.
“We also use those vessels then to export things like John Deere tractors. And what we’re seeing and what we’ve heard is that John Deere is actually delaying — I should say canceling now. We hope it’s just a delay — one of their large annual exports of tractors that usually export through our facilities, so that’s of concern to us.”
How are U.S. retailers feeling the impact of this? Is there a chance that shelves at stores could soon be empty?
“I think some of the small and medium-sized businesses are gonna be more substantially impacted quicker. Some of the larger businesses have been able to store products or are able to withstand some of that.
“But I just returned from a trip to Vietnam and South Korea last week and had an opportunity to meet with some of the beneficial cargo owners, shipping lines, over there, and kind of get a feel for what they anticipate and what they expect and what they can withstand. And I would say there’s uncertainty and there’s concern on both sides of the ocean here.”
This interview has been edited for clarity.
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Lynn Menegon produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Michael Scotto. Grace Griffin adapted it for the web.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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