California residents worried about potential impact of tariffs on employment, economy

Long Beach, a coastal city in the U.S. State of California, is bracing for challenges as its port economy will be affected by the series of executive orders signed and tariffs announced by President Donald Trump. An economic impact study has shown that one in five jobs in this city is related directly or indirectly to trade at its port.

"That's a lot of jobs for the city of Long Beach, and the study goes on and talks about, if I remember correctly, in southern California 575,000 jobs, in the state of California 700,000 some odd jobs are related to business at the port of Long Beach," said Bonnie Lowenthal, president of the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners, at a local Chinese New Year celebration event on Saturday.

The latest flurry of tariffs announced by Trump aims to revive domestic manufacturing, but experts say it could take time to build capacity, especially for metals like steel and aluminum.

"At the minimum, it will be three to five years, if not longer for large industrial projects to materialize it. I think it's much easier for advanced manufacturing to be able to deploy right away within a couple of years' time, but under no way or form or shape, one can imagine that one will start to see the manufacturing boom in six months. It will not happen. It cannot happen," said Nick Vyas, founder and executive director of the USC Randall R. Kendrick Global Supply Chain Institute. Meanwhile, concerns are mounting that tariffs could bring much uncertainty to key industries, such as construction and auto-manufacturing, which rely on these raw materials.

"When you are running an industry where average car production, the parts, the subsystems, travels cross-border three and a half to four times before it actually gets assembled, and you introduce this kind of friction between cross-border supply chain, it creates a tremendous anxiety, tremendous inefficiency and tremendous friction. All of this adds up to less productive proposition, higher cost, lower margin, and that makes the entire industry nervous, and rightfully so," Vyas added.

Mary Barton, treasurer of the Long Beach-Qingdao Association, a non-profit organization established in 1985 to foster friendship and exchanges between Long Beach and China's coastal port city Qingdao, said these shifts may be felt by many more businesses and their workers.

"Our friends in the business world are worried about whether or not their products will be successful on the market now. And if not, with these new higher prices, will they be forced to lay off people? What will the economic price be for these people to pay who had nothing to do with the disputes?" said Barton.

California residents worried about potential impact of tariffs on employment, economy

California residents worried about potential impact of tariffs on employment, economy

China's Shenzhou-23 astronauts have spent more than 80 days aboard the Tiangong Space Station, where they have advanced a broad slate of scientific experiments and operational training drills over the past week as the mission progresses steadily.

Last week, the three astronauts, namely Zhu Yangzhu, Zhang Zhiyuan, and Lai Ka-ying, carried out multiple parallel space science experiments and tests, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).

The crew completed in-orbit electroencephalogram (EEG) tests and behavioral experiments for the microgravity intuitive physics project, examining how prolonged spaceflight affects astronauts' brain functional networks and their ability to form intuitive physical representations.

They also collected and processed blood samples for research programs including bone metabolism interactive regulation and space integrative omics, supporting studies on the changing patterns of the human skeletal, nervous and other physiological systems during long-duration spaceflight.

In addition, kinematic characteristic experiments were conducted to provide support for ergonomic design and evaluation.

In the field of psychological and behavioral research, the trio finished an emergency decision-making capability assessment and an in-orbit emotional state test, part of ongoing work to track changes in crew performance and mental status throughout long-term on-orbit missions.

Alongside scientific endeavors, the astronauts pushed ahead with scheduled in-orbit training and emergency drills to reinforce their operational skills and response readiness.

Footage from the orbital complex shows the crew honing their skills on the on-orbit teleoperation rendezvous and docking training system, practicing manual docking, teleoperated docking and manual evacuation maneuvers by operating translation and attitude control handles.

They also completed in-orbit medical rescue training to familiarize themselves with rescue procedures and force application characteristics in a microgravity environment.

Furthermore, the crew carried out the second full-system pressure emergency drill, further consolidating their emergency handling capabilities and improving space-ground coordination efficiency.

China launched the Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceship on May 24. The mission includes a one-year in-orbit study designed to gather data for future long-duration human space missions.

China's Shenzhou-23 crew advance space science experiments, in-orbit training