Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg Says Port Strikes Could Have Real Impact On Economy

Be a part of Fox Information for entry to this content material

Plus particular entry to pick out articles and different premium content material along with your account – freed from cost.

By getting into your electronic mail and pushing proceed, you’re agreeing to Fox Information’ Phrases of Use and Privateness Coverage, which incorporates our Discover of Monetary Incentive.

Please enter a legitimate electronic mail tackle.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg stated Thursday that the port strikes might have an actual impression on the financial system throughout an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“The longer this goes, the extra financial impression you are going to see. Look, in case you simply take into consideration the tempo of ocean transport, clearly one thing you are anticipating to get in a single day is not one thing you are sending in an ocean liner. However it does not take lengthy for this to actually have an effect. Our provide chains are all interconnected,” Buttigieg advised host Willie Geist.

The Worldwide Longshoreman’s Affiliation (ILA) started its first strike since 1977 after its six-year contract with the U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX), which represents port employers, expired Monday evening.

“A number of the retailers, the shops, they did see that this could be coming. This is a matter we have been monitoring for months. And so a few of them rerouted to the West Coast or they frontloaded their orders and received extra issues into the warehouses earlier this yr,” he added.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg warned on Thursday that the dockworkers strike might have actual impacts on the U.S. financial system. (Screenshot/MSNBC)

US SHOPPERS START TO ‘STOCK UP’ ON ESSENTIALS AS PORT STRIKES PRESSURE PRICES TO GO ‘HIGHER THAN EVER’

Buttigieg defined that the dockworkers’ union was negotiating for higher wages as a result of transport firms have had their income enhance by “about 350%” over the past eight years. He stated the wages of the employees have solely gone up about 15%.

“They’re negotiating for higher wages and different points, they usually haven’t been capable of come to phrases, them and the ocean carriers and ports, so as to attain a brand new contract. That has resulted on this strike, the work stoppage,” he stated.

“It is a large difficulty, this must get resolved,” the transportation secretary added. “We have been in contact with the completely different events urging them to bridge their variations, specifically urging these ocean carriers, which once more, have grow to be extraordinarily worthwhile lately to place ahead a suggestion that is sufficient to carry the union again to the desk and get this hammered out.”

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE

The continued union dockworkers’ strike has left a number of U.S. ports on the East and Gulf Coasts at a standstill for days, halting commerce on the hubs that collectively deal with about half of U.S. imports.

Main retail and enterprise associations are sounding the alarm over the impression the work stoppage might have on the broader financial system, and new knowledge reveals which firms have shipped essentially the most items into the affected ports over the previous yr.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The businesses that imported essentially the most quantity into East Coast and Gulf Coast ports from September 2023 to September 2024 are Normal Motors, Walmart, LG Electronics, Mercedes Benz and Ikea, in accordance with the newest knowledge from ImportGenius shared with FOX Enterprise.

Fox Information’ Breck Dumas contributed to this report.