U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has taken a stand in favor of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) in the group's contract dispute with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), which manages the ports along the U.S. East and Gulf coasts.
In mid-November, ILA leadership walked away from negotiations with USMX, refusing to compromise on automation, which USMX said must be integrated – in at least some ways – into port operations.
In the month since talks broke down, numerous retail organizations, including the National Fisheries Institute (NFI), have urged union leaders to return to the negotiating table and make concessions on automation.
However, following a 12 December meeting with ILA President Harold Dagget and Vice President Dennis Dagget, Trump sided with the union.
“There has been a lot of discussion having to do with automation on United States docks. I’ve studied automation and know just about everything there is to know about it. The amount of money saved is nowhere near the distress, hurt, and harm it causes for American workers – in this case, our longshoremen," Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social. “Foreign companies have made a fortune in the U.S. by giving them access to our markets. They shouldn’t be looking for every last penny knowing how many families are hurt. They’ve got record profits, and I’d rather these foreign companies spend it on the great men and women on our docks than machinery, which is expensive and will constantly have to be replaced. In the end, there’s no gain for them, and I hope that they will understand how important an issue this is for me.”
Dennis Dagget praised Trump after the meeting.
“Throughout my career, I’ve never seen a politician – let alone the president of the United States – truly understand the importance of the work our members do every single day," he said on ILA's Facebook page. "But, Trump not only demonstrated that understanding but also showed the utmost respect for the hard work, sacrifice, and dedication of our membership.”
The ILA is due to resume strike activities on 15 January, five days before Trump’s inauguration.
Trump's backing of the ILA now puts pressure on USMX to concede on its demands for increased automation since it now appears unlikely that Trump would be convinced to end a strike when he is president.
A January port strike could last much longer than the three-day strike that occurred in October and, therefore, have longer-lasting consequences.
Before the October strike, shippers who had previously relied primarily on East Coast ports began to reroute through the U.S. West Coast.
The Port of Los Angeles – already the U.S.’s busiest container hub – saw 16 percent more container volume in November, which is usually a slow period for the port. The port is on pace to move more than 10 million 20-foot-equivalent units (TEU) this year for only the second time in its more than 115-year history, having processed 9.4 million TEUs so far this year – a 19 percent increase from the previous year.
Supply chain experts have predicted that container prices are likely to continue to surge and ports are likely to see record volume into 2026 thanks to the secondary effects of the port disruptions and Trump’s proposed import tariffs. Importers who spoke to SeafoodSource said they are watching the situation closely and prepared to respond quickly to what will likely be a rapidly changing environment.
