Trimtabist

The US Trade Ledger — every US container gateway, every partner country, every month. Census-recorded, AIS-verified.

US imports from China — monthly data by port and commodity

In May 2026, the 8 major US container gateways received 4,516 kt of containerised imports from China, worth $13.80B (+31% by weight year-on-year), arriving mainly through Los Angeles & Long Beach. Against full-year 2018, China’s 2025 containerised volume through these gateways was -15% vs 2018. Counted by US customs; mirrored and revision-tracked by the Trimtab US Trade Ledger. Updated: 2026-08-06.

National context (all modes, all ports, TT-005 method): US goods imports from China in June 2026 were $25.1B — the gateway figures above are the containerised-seaport slice of that total.

Which US gateways receive it · May 2026

Savannah 445 kt
Houston 426 kt
Oakland 170 kt
Charleston 134 kt
Norfolk 131 kt

What arrives in the boxes (top HS2 chapters)

plastics and articles thereof 667 kt
nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery etc.; parts 489 kt
furnit;bedding,mattres;luminaires,light fix;prefab 466 kt
electric machinery etc; sound equip; tv equip; pts 307 kt
toys, games & sport equipment; parts & accessories 276 kt

Last 13 months

2026-05 4,516 kt$13.80B
2026-04 3,911 kt$11.54B
2026-03 4,004 kt$12.32B
2026-02 3,900 kt$12.05B
2026-01 4,069 kt$12.88B
2025-12 3,862 kt$12.24B
2025-11 3,657 kt$11.43B
2025-10 4,227 kt$13.08B
2025-09 3,895 kt$13.22B
2025-08 4,557 kt$16.54B
2025-07 4,977 kt$18.15B
2025-06 3,245 kt$11.28B
2025-05 3,458 kt$12.48B

Method & machine-readable

Scope: containerised imports through the 8 major US container gateways (LA/LB, NY-NJ, Savannah, Houston, Charleston, Norfolk, Oakland, Seattle-Tacoma) — a defined slice, not a national total. Source: US Census port-level trade, port of unlading. Census revises prior months; this mirror archives every restatement. Country codes are Census Schedule C, verified against the official list. Cross-checked against independent AIS observation of the same gateways (method).
MCP: query_series, search_series — no API key · Ports: Los Angeles & Long Beach · New York & New Jersey · Savannah · Houston · Charleston · Norfolk · Oakland · Seattle & Tacoma
Other origins: Vietnam · India · Thailand · South Korea · Italy · Germany · Indonesia · Taiwan · Japan · Malaysia · Brazil · Turkey · Spain · France · Cambodia · Chile · Pakistan · Netherlands · United Kingdom · Philippines · United Arab Emirates · Poland · Peru · Australia · Belgium · Bangladesh · Colombia · Austria · Egypt · all countries