On Wednesday, President Biden will address the supply chain issues the United States has experienced since the beginning of the pandemic. Major retailers have warned us about ‘shortages and price hikes during the upcoming holiday season.’ Numerous cargo containers sit idle in two of the nation’s largest ports, Los Angeles and Long Beach, CA. Both ports have agreed to increase their operation to 27/7, which handle approximately 40 percent of all container ‘traffic that enters the United States.’
The Biden administration has also called upon three of the largest goods carriers — Walmart, FedEx and UPS — to take steps to move toward 24/7 operations, which will help get the goods from the ports and into the stores.
“The supply chain bottlenecks range industry to industry, but we certainly know addressing … those bottlenecks at ports could help address what we see in many industries across the country and, frankly, are leading people who are preparing for holidays, for Christmas, whatever they may celebrate — birthdays — to order goods and get them to people’s homes,” Jen Psaki said Tuesday.
Per NPR:
In the call with reporters Tuesday night, the White House also pushed back against concerns that direct payments from Biden’s March relief law have exacerbated the problems, fueling demand for goods and possibly discouraging needed labor.
The administration says the supply chain disruptions are global in nature, a challenge that’s been made worse by the spreading of the coronavirus delta variant.
Two of the world’s largest ports in China experienced partial closures aimed at curbing COVID-19 outbreaks, the White House notes. And in September, hundreds of factories closed under lockdown restrictions in Vietnam.
