Trump's tariffs can pose opportunities for California farmers, but it's complicated

Despite President Donald Trump’s tariffs halting cargo traffic coming through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the international levies can be turned into opportunities for American-made goods, especially agricultural products, an official told NBC Los Angeles Sunday.

While speaking with NewsConference’s Conan Nolan, Gene Seroka, Port of LA CEO, said this time in history may offer an open window “to really push American exports.”

“In this country, we only consume about a third of all the crops that are grown by American farmers. Let's open up overseas markets to those folks,” Seroka said.

The leader of the busiest container port in North America added the U.S. manufacturing industry can help drive the economy with the right strategies.

“We have 390,000 jobs associated with the manufacturing industry. Yet we only export 1% of those products,” he added. “There are real opportunities here to drive the American economy, not impact the consumer.”

But California officials appeared to have more pessimistic views about the tariffs, with Gov. Gavin Newsom suing the Trump administration last month to challenge the tariffs. The lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, argued that enacting such tariffs requires approval from Congress.

Newsom, a Democrat, said the tariffs have essentially resulted in inflated costs and could bring billions of dollars in damage to California, which has the largest economy and is the largest importer among U.S. states. 

“No state is poised to lose more than the state of California,” Newsom said during a news conference last month. 

As Newsom highlighted that many of the nuts, fruits and vegetables grown in the state are destined for other countries, a second-generation almond farmer in the Central Valley said she’s uncertain how the family business would make it through the ongoing trade war.

“Will we be able to access what we need to grow our crops, and if so, will we even be able to afford it?” Christine Gemperle said. 

Farmers in California grow roughly 76% of the world’s almonds, and they rely on the global markets for materials to build farming equipment and irrigation systems.

Seroka also raised the alarm for the upcoming weeks, saying consumers will start seeing empty shelves in four to six weeks. 

“What retailers are telling me is that they've got about a month, maybe a month and a half of normal inventory levels here in the country,” the Port of LA CEO said. “If no trade deal is struck in any shape or form, that means that inventories are going to keep working down, and likely we'll see spot shortages on the shelves  or on our online buying apps, and prices will go up.”

Seroka also added that while the Port of LA typically has about 80 ships coming in every May, 17 ships have canceled their voyage to Southern California so far this month. 

Fewer shipping containers also mean fewer job opportunities, Seroka said.

“Right now on the docks, we've got 33 work groups or labor gangs, as we call them. On a traditional Friday, it's usually somewhere between 40 and 50 of these work groups,” he explained.