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Traffic is down at America’s busiest port complex – and anxious dock workers are fearful of further economic harm

Southern California may be known for celebrities and glitz, but the true action has long been about 40 miles away from Hollywood, in a place where high-visibility coveralls and hardhats dominate.

For the past 25 years, the San Pedro Bay port complex – comprised of the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach – has been the celebrity of the shipping world and an economic driver of California’s massive economy. The busiest seaport in the western hemisphere and one of the busiest in the world, approximately 15,000 longshore workers usually pull shifts around the clock, moving billions of dollars’ worth of cargo in cars, agriculture, auto parts, toys, clothes and furniture.

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Uncertainty generated by tariff policy underlines US president seemingly unable to choose a path and stick to it

Ten days reporting from the US – in Pittsburgh, Washington DC, and just across the Potomac River in Arlington, Virginia – gave me a fascinating snapshot of what feels like the slow-motion unravelling of the world’s largest economy.

So many conversations featured uncertainty and wariness; and weariness, too, as businesses and consumers weigh up every decision, against the backdrop of the chaos emanating from the White House.

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