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Port strike could reignite inflation, with larger economic impact dependent on how long it lasts

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Port of Miami dockworkers strike near the port entrance and demand a new labor contract, on October 1, 2024 in Miami, Florida. 

Giorgio Viera | Afp | Getty Images

A strike hitting ports along the East and Gulf coasts could stoke prices for food, autos and a host of other consumer goods but is expected to cause only modest broader impacts — so long as it doesn’t drag on for too long.

Manufacturers of everything from trucks to toys to artificial Christmas trees face obstacles now that the International Longshoreman’s Association has called a stoppage at major Eastern container and cargo ports.

From a macro perspective, the impact will depend on duration. President Joe Biden, under powers granted by the Taft-Hartley Act, could step in and order an 80-day cooling off period that would at least temporarily halt the stoppage, though there’s little indication he will do so.

That will leave hopes in the hands of negotiators for the union and the U.S. Maritime Alliance that the strike won’t drag on and cause greater hardship for a U.S. economy heading into the critical holiday shipping season.

“Labor action by port workers along the East and Gulf coast of the United States will provide a modest hit to GDP,” said RSM chief economist Joseph Brusuelas, who put the weekly impact at bit more than 0.1 percentage point of gross domestic product and $4.3 billion in lost imports and exports.

“Given that the American economy is on a 3% growth path at this time we do not expect the strike to derail the trajectory of the domestic economy or present a risk to an early and unnecessary end to the current economic expansion,” he added.

East Coast port worker strike will hit every industry, says Moody's John Donigian

Indeed, the $29 trillion U.S. economy has dodged multiple landmines and has been in growth mode for the past two years. The Atlanta Federal Reserve is tracking third-quarter growth of 3.1%, boosted by an acceleration in net exports.

A prolonged work stoppage, though, could threaten that.

Impacted areas

ILA seeks 61.5% wage increase as port workers strike for the first time in almost 50 years

“We think fears around the potential economic impacts are overdone,” wrote Bradley Saunders, North America economist at Capital Economics. “Frequent shocks to supply chains in recent years have left producers more attuned to the risks of running low inventories. It is therefore likely that firms will have taken precautionary measures in case of a strike – not least because the possibility has been touted by the ILA for months.”

Saunders added that he thinks there’s a strong possibility that the White House could step in to the fray and invoke a cooling-off period, despite the administration’s strongly pro-union leanings.

“There is little chance that the administration would risk jeopardizing its recent economic successes less than two months before a tightly-contested election,” he said.

Inflation threat

In the meantime, there are a slew of other issues that could complicate things.

Snags in the supply chain could exacerbate inflation just as it appears price pressures have cooled from their mid-2022 peak that sent the annual rate to its highest level in more than 40 years. The maritime association is proposing raises approaching 50%, another factor that could reignite inflation just as wage pressures also have receded. The union is looking for larger increases plus guarantees against automation.

“This is clearly transitory. They will have some resolution,” said Christopher Ball, economics professor at Quinnipiac University. “That being said, in the short run, if it lasts more than a few days, if it lasts more than a week … that will certainly push up the prices of a lot of those goods and services now. It could cause prices spikes in the short run during the strike, and I can easily see that pushing up prices of certain goods a lot.”

Ball expects the main areas to be impacted will be food and vehicles, both of which have exerted either disinflationary or deflationary pressures in recent months. Small businesses near the ports also could feel adverse impacts, he added.

“If it goes a week or two, you’re running into businesses that that have real shortages and, yeah, they’ll absolutely have to raise those prices just to prevent broad shortages of those goods,” Ball said.

That all comes at an inopportune time for the Federal Reserve. The central bank last month cut its benchmark borrowing rate by half a percentage point and indicated more easing is to come as it gains confidence that inflation is easing.

However, the strike could complicate decision-making. The October jobs report, which is the last one the Fed will see before its Nov. 6-7 policy meeting, will be influenced both by strike-impacted layoffs as well as those from Hurricane Helene.

It all comes with a looming presidential election on Nov. 5, and the economy as a pivotal issue.

“This would just completely complicate everything that the Fed is trying to do because they’re not getting a read to what the economy is actually performing,” Jim Bianco, head of Bianco Research, told CNBC.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Monday said he expects the Fed to lower rates by another half percentage point by the end of the year, somewhat slower than markets had been anticipating.

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Germany’s economy chief Reiche sets out roadmap to end turmoil

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09 May 2025, Bavaria, Gmund Am Tegernsee: Katherina Reiche (CDU), Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, takes part in the Ludwig Erhard Summit. Representatives from business, politics, science and the media are taking part in the three-day summit. Photo: Sven Hoppe/dpa (Photo by Sven Hoppe/picture alliance via Getty Images)

Picture Alliance | Picture Alliance | Getty Images

Germany needs to take more risks and boost its stagnant economy with a decade of investment in infrastructure, German Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Katherina Reiche said Friday.

“The next decade will be the decade of infrastructure investments in bridges, in energy infrastructure, in storage, in maritime infrastructure… telecommunication. And for this, we need speed. We need speed and investments, and we need private capital,” Reiche told CNBC’s Annette Weisbach on the sidelines of the Tegernsee summit.

While 10% of investments could be taken care of with public money, the remaining 90% relied on the private sector, she said.

The newly minted economy minister also addressed regulation coming from Brussels, warning that it could hinder companies from investments and start-ups from growing if it is too restrictive. Germany has had to learn that investments comes with risks “and we have to kind of be open for taking more risks,” she said.

Watch CNBC's full interview with German Economy Minister Katherina Reiche

“This country needs an economic turnaround. After two years of recessions the previous government had to announce again [a] zero growth year for 2025 and we really have to work on this. So on the top of the agenda is an investor booster,” the minister added.

Lowering energy prices, stabilizing the security of energy supply and reducing bureaucracy were among the key points on the agenda, Reiche said.

Germany’s economy contracted slightly on an annual basis in both 2023 and 2024 and the quarterly gross domestic product has been flipping between growth and contraction for over two years now, just about managing to avoid a technical recession. Preliminary data for the first quarter of 2025 showed a 0.2% expansion.

Forecasts do not suggest much of a reprieve from the sluggishness, with the now former German government last month saying it still expects the economy to stagnate this year.

This is despite a major fiscal U-turn announced earlier this year, which included changes to the country’s long-standing debt rules to allow for additional defense spending and a 500-billion-euro ($562.4 billion) infrastructure package.

Several of Germany’s key industries are under pressure. The auto industry for example is dealing with stark competition from China and now faces tariffs, while issues in housebuilding and infrastructure have been linked to higher costs and bureaucratic hurdles.

Trade is also a key pillar for the German economy and therefore uncertainty from U.S. President Donald Trump’s changing tariff policies are weighing heavily on the outlook.

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Andrew Bailey on why UK-U.S. trade deal won’t end uncertainty

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Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey attends the central bank’s Monetary Policy Report press conference at the Bank of England, in the City of London, on May 8, 2025.

Carlos Jasso | Afp | Getty Images

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey told CNBC on Thursday that the U.K. was heading for more economic uncertainty, despite the country being the first to strike a trade agreement with the U.S. under President Donald Trump’s controversial tariff regime.

“The tariff and trade situation has injected more uncertainty into the situation… There’s more uncertainty now than there was in the past,” Bailey told CNBC in an interview.

“A U.K.-U.S. trade agreement is very welcome in that sense, very welcome. But the U.K. is a very open economy,” he continued.

That means that the impact from tariffs on the U.K. economy comes not just from its own trade relationship with Washington, but also from those of the U.S. and the rest of the world, he said.

“I hope that what we’re seeing on the U.K.-U.S. trade side will be the first of many, and it will be repeated by a whole series of trade agreements, but we have to see that happen of course, and where it actually ends up.”

“Because, of course, we are looking at tariff levels that are probably higher than they were beforehand.”

Trump unveils United Kingdom trade deal, first since ‘reciprocal’ tariff pause

In Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Report released Thursday, the word “uncertainty” was used 41 times across its 97 pages, up from 36 times in February, according to a CNBC tally.

The U.K. central bank cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point on Thursday, taking its key rate to 4.25%. The decision was highly divided among the seven members of its Monetary Policy Committee, with five voting for the 25 basis point cut, two voting to hold rates and two voting to reduce by a larger 50 basis points.

Bailey said that while some analysts had perceived the rate decision as more hawkish than expected — in other words, leaning toward holding rates elevated than slashing them rapidly — he was not surprised by the close vote.

“What it reflects is that there are two sides, there are risks on both sides here,” he told CNBC.

“We could get a much more severe weakness of demand than we were expecting, that could then pass through to a weaker outlook for inflation than we were expecting.”

“There’s a risk on the other side that we could get some combination of more persistence in the inflation effects that are gradually working their way through the system,” such as in wages and energy, while “supply capacity in the economy is weaker,” he said.

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Economics

Trump knocks down a controversial pillar of civil-rights law

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IN THE DELUGE of 145 executive orders issued by President Donald Trump (on subjects as disparate as “Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness” and “Maintaining Acceptable Water Pressure in Showerheads”) it can be difficult to discern which are truly consequential. But one of them, signed on April 23rd under the bland headline “Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy”, aims to remake civil-rights law. Those primed to distrust Mr Trump on such matters may be surprised to learn that the president’s target is not just important but also well-chosen.

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