In Trump's trade war with China, L.A. ports are ground zero
When President Trump unveiled plans to launch a trade war with China early last year, Marisa Bedrosian Kosters, an executive at an Anaheim-based ceramic tile and stone retailer, sprang into action.
Like many of the tens of thousands of retailers who move Chinese goods through Southern California's giant port complex, Bedrosians Tile and Stone turbocharged its imports to get ahead of the threatened tariffs and other duties.
But when its new supplies from Foshan reached the Port of Long Beach, the company, which has outlets in 10 states, ran into a massive traffic jam. With thousands of extra containers piled up dockside, Kosters struggled to get her tiles off ships and onto trucks, incurring thousands of dollars in extra costs assessed by the terminals. And now she faces a supply glut. Her 389,000-square-foot tile distribution center is overflowing, and she has had to store more than 7,500 pallets outside.
"There's no space inside," she
