Joe Biden’s White House is trying to address panic over a “canceled Christmas.” The Biden Administration recently met with three major corporations that could have a profound effect on America’s Christmas. Officials from the massive retailer, Wal-Mart, and the shipping services of FedEx and UPS were recently engaged by the White House. These corporations have committed to working 24 hours a day, and seven days a week so that there can be a resolution to the global supply chain crisis. This crisis threatens to create major product availability issues just as the country moves into the holiday season.
There was a warning from the Biden White House earlier this week that a COVID-19-related domino effect has caused supply chain issues worldwide. They also noted that holiday shopping might be more difficult than in years past.
A White House spokesperson said, “There will be things that people can’t get. At the same time, a lot of these goods are hopefully substitutable by other things. I don’t think there’s any real reason to be panicked, but we all feel the frustration and there’s a certain need for patience to help get through a relatively short period of time.”
Following that announcement, the White House said that it was in the process of making deals with private sector companies to try to expedite the process of docking and unloading cargo ships from Asia. Many ships are currently waiting for berths in California ports so that there can be a transport of goods across the country.
A White House spokesperson speaking to The Hill said, “The supply chain is essentially in the hands of the private sector, so we need the private sector to step up to help solve these problems. Three of the largest goods carriers in the country, Walmart, FedEx, and UPS, will make commitments towards moving to 24/7, working during off-peak hours.”
The White House also announced that they are in discussions with Target, Samsung, and Home Depot to make the same commitment to 24/7 operation. The administration is focused on keeping California ports open around the clock, even though they are experiencing major backlogs.
There are experts who are saying to simply focus on retailers and commercial shipping companies will do little to alleviate the endemic supply chain issues. They believe that part of the problem is Biden’s economic policies, which are creating an increase in inflation. It is the White House’s domestic agenda that is causing the current employment crisis.
Marketplace.org, which is non-partisan, said that the issues may be a result of a COVID-19 “domino effect,” that began in China. The outlet reported: “[P]andemic shutdowns, labor shortages and other disruptions slowed parts of the shipping and logistics industry at the same time imports surged due to shifting consumer spending habits.”
They also noted that restrictions on passenger air travel, in turn, have slowed the movement of cargo by air, which caused an increase in the number of trans-Atlantic cargo ships. They believe that this is what has caused congestion at ports, made worse by dock labor shortages and a shortage of cross-country truckers.
Others have focused on the cost of sending goods from Asia to the United States. Shipping a freight container from East Asia to North America’s West Coast now costs more than four times what it did in October of 2020.
The White House has pinned its hopes on a small sector of the supply chain. They hope that increased movement among retailers and commercial shippers may cause changes across the whole economic ecosystem. Let’s hope they know what they’re doing, or it will be a bah-humbug holiday season.
