Jobs at the Port of Los Angeles, the largest and busiest port in the United States, are down by half as U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff hikes cripple trade with Asia-Pacific, local media reported on Saturday.
The Los Angeles Times reports that the U.S. government's tariff policies have severely curbed shipments to America, leading to declining cargo volumes at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. As two of the nation's busiest trade gateways, these ports used to employ thousands of dockworkers, heavy equipment operators, and truck drivers. But now with global trade disrupted by U.S. tariffs, port operations have seen a sharp down slide.
Over the last 25 work shifts, only 733 jobs were available for 1,575 longshoremen looking for work, Los Angeles Times reported, citing Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, adding that the port processed 25 percent less cargo than forecast for May.
"They haven't been laid off, but they're not working nearly as much as they did previously," Seroka said. "Since the tariffs went into place, and in May specifically, we've really seen the work go off on the downside."
Seroka attributed the decrease in job opportunities to lower cargo volume moving through the port. He also pointed out that the June numbers are forecast to be lower than traditional levels.
The Port of Los Angeles has ranked as the largest container port in the United States each year since 2000. In California alone, nearly 1 million jobs are related to trade through the port.
The LA Times report said the decline in shipping has broader ripple effects on the logistics economy of Los Angeles.
A 2023 report found that the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach contributed 21.8 billion U.S. dollars in direct revenue to local service providers, generating 2.7 billion U.S. dollars in state and local taxes and creating 165,462 jobs, directly and indirectly.
A decline of just 1 percent in cargo to the ports would wipe away 2,769 jobs and endanger as many as 4,000 others, the study found.
Tariff tensions reduce shipments, port jobs in Los Angeles
Tariff tensions reduce shipments, port jobs in Los Angeles
Tariff tensions reduce shipments, port jobs in Los Angeles
China's online literature has captivated more global readers with the assistance of digital technology including AI translation and multimedia transformations.
Digitalization has been empowering the global expansion of China's online literature, with WebNovel, a leading Chinese online literature platform, becoming one of the beneficiaries.
In 2025, the platform has had more than 10,000 pieces of works translated by AI, with the scale of multilingual translation reaching 3.5 times that of last year.
AI-powered translation volume has grown by nearly 300 percent, with efficiency improving by a hundredfold and costs reduced by 90 percent.
"AI is quite handy when it comes to multilingual translation. Previously, we could only publish four books in a month, but now that number can hit 400, with good quality approved by overseas readers," said Wu Xuemei, head of overseas product operation with an online literature platform.
According to the 2024 China Online Literature Blue Book, by the end of 2024, China's online literature readership had swelled to 575 million, taking up 51.9 percent of the total netizen population.
Also in that year, the number of overseas readers of Chinese online literature reached 200 million, with 30 million newly registered users. Meanwhile, the revenue from the overseas market hit 4.815 billion yuan (about 674 million U.S. dollars), showing a year-on-year growth of 10.68 percent, demonstrating the industry's strong market resilience.
"We don't have enough life to read all of them, and many of them are very good," said a Mexican reader.
For now, Chinese online literature has evolved into a comprehensive industry ecosystem of significant scale and depth.
Its full-chain IP development has yielded notable achievements, while derivative formats such as audiobooks, comics, and animation have broadened the horizons of dissemination, shaping an integrated communication model of "text, audiovisual, and interaction".
"Chinese online literature has now reached a mature phase in its global expansion, characterized by a transformation from mere content export to a comprehensive ecosystem encompassing creation, translation, IP development, and local co-creation," said Tang Qiao, deputy director of the online literature research office with Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Literature.
Digital technology helps Chinese online literature captivate global readers
