California’s ports saw a surge in traffic in December after handling at the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland climbed 10.9% year over year. A 24.3% increase in imports from China, ahead of now-delayed tariff increases, was the primary driver. The outlook for the new year will depend in part on U.S. trade talks with China as well as the seasonal effect of the earlier lunar new year. The data for California’s exports is less positive after a 10.0% year over year drop for the month and a 5.0% decline for the quarter. That bodes ill for the state of the local economy. It also s...