Trade between the port of Barcelona and the United States and China is declining.
The trade war, swine fever, and the conflict in the Red Sea are impacting container traffic.
BarcelonaIn an increasingly complex geopolitical context, the Port of Barcelona registered a decline in trade with China and the United States during February. Tariff threats and the conflict in the Red Sea explain this impact in early 2026 on both markets, which, moreover, performed very well last year. All of this is without yet fully accounting for the impact that the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has been having on international trade since the beginning of this month.
In the case of China, a strategic destination for the Port of Barcelona, the drop in container traffic was more than 7%. The Port of Barcelona attributes this decline to factors such as the fall in pork exports to Asia, especially China. This is a clear consequence of African swine fever, given that China is the main market for the pork sector. Additionally, the decrease in animal feed and alfalfa traffic to China, as well as to countries in the Middle East, has also had an impact. The trade war initiated by US President Donald Trump is also being felt in the Port of Barcelona. This is primarily due to the advance of exports that companies made in late 2024 and early 2025, anticipating the implementation of the Republican president's tariff threat. During that period, exports from the Port of Barcelona to the United States surged by 30%, which has now led to a 14% drop in trade with this market in February. However, the geopolitical context has benefited the United States in other areas, such as natural gas imports, following the Russian embargo due to the war in Ukraine. Already on a high, the port saw an increase of nearly 93% in February. During 2025, the Port of Barcelona handled 2.87 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG), 43.4% more than in the previous year. Enagás is the one that moves all that LNG, through the regasification plant it has at the port. The power outage at the end of April also led to increased consumption of this energy source. To top it all off, the tariff agreement between the United States and the European Union (EU) included the massive purchase of US gas.
The port emphasizes that container traffic is also very sensitive at the beginning of each year, when rescheduling carried out at the end of the previous year "can create statistical discrepancies." Despite the declines in China and the United States, container traffic increased by more than 3% compared to the previous year at the Port of Barcelona.
More containers in traffic
This behavior is supported by the recovery of container traffic, which rose 18% in February after increasing 11% in January. This is another consequence of the conflict in the Red Sea and the instability it causes for navigation through the Suez Canal, the gateway to the Mediterranean for ships from Asia. The alternative route goes through Gibraltar, with ships stopping at nearby ports such as Barcelona to unload cargo. While transshipment containers fell by nearly 21% at the Port of Barcelona during 2025 due to increased instability in the region, this trend has reversed since the beginning of 2026, allowing for a significant increase in container traffic in both January and February. These containers generate higher added value.
