Just hours after a new report showed a surprise spike in prices that puts new pressure on the White House to ease the burden on consumers, the president defended his administration's efforts to deal with inflation.
Mr. Biden used the Port of Los Angeles as a backdrop to highlight his fight against inflation.
Mr. Biden said that the job market was the strongest it had been since World War II.
With shipping containers piled up behind him, Mr. Biden emphasized that his administration had taken action last year to reduce congestion at ports, allowing 97 percent of all packages to be delivered on time.
Mr. Biden has become a political liability due to persistent inflation.
The war in Ukranian has disrupted supplies of food, fuel and minerals, pushing inflation to multidecade highs. Inflation rose 1 percent from the previous month. Consumer prices rose the most in 33 years.
As retailers enter a busy fall season and dockworkers on the West Coast negotiate a labor contract that could lead to work slowdowns or a strike, analysts say that the supply chain may not be as clear cut as it should be.
Mr. Biden knows that Americans are anxious.
He said that they are anxious. He blamed the increases in the price of gasoline and food on Russia's invasion of Ukraine and said that inflation was largely the result of those increases.
Mr. Biden said that Americans were in better shape than their counterparts in other countries because of a strong jobs market and a decline in the budget deficit.
He lashed out at the shipping companies for artificially increasing the cost of goods around the world. The companies were not named.
He said they have raised their prices by as much as 1000 percent.
He wants Congress to take action against shipping companies that raise prices.
He said that the rip-off was done.
Mr. Biden believes that inflation is a global problem. According to a note to clients on Friday, the United States is just above the middle of the pack when it comes to inflation rates.
That is not comforting to U.S. households.
When retailers bring in products for back-to-school shopping and the holidays, the U.S.logistics industry is going to be busy. China's exports are on the rise as a coronaviruses outbreak ends.
The dockworkers on the West Coast are trying to negotiate a new labor contract with port terminal operators. If they don't reach an agreement, West Coast ports could see shutdowns or slowdowns that would delay deliveries.
Over the past two decades, there have been at least three such slowdowns that resulted in delays. Some companies that usually ship into the West Coast have begun moving some goods to the East or Gulf Coasts in order to avoid log jams.
Gene Seroka, the executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, said he expected labor talks to go beyond July 1 but downplayed the risks to trade.
With all this cargo on the way, the rank-and-file dockworkers will be out on the job.
Employers know they need to market these products. Some room will be given to these people. The rest of us are going to work to keep the economy moving and the cargo moving.
Mr. Biden has close relationships with labor unions and may be hesitant to put pressure on dockworkers. It would be bad news for the administration if there was a work strike.
Supply chain pressures have been decreasing recently. The average global price to ship a 40-foot container of goods fell to $7,370 as of June 3, down from a peak of more than $11,000 in September, but still five times higher than before the swine flu outbreak began.
How much is inflation? Your dollar won't go as far tomorrow as it did today due to inflation. The change in prices for everyday goods and services is known as the annual change in prices.
Is there a cause for inflation? It could be due to increased consumer demand. There are developments that have little to do with economic conditions and can cause inflation to rise and fall.
I wonder if inflation is bad. It is dependent on the situation. Moderate price gains can lead to higher wages.
Inflation can affect the stock market. It's difficult for stocks to be affected by rapid inflation. Houses have held their value better than financial assets during inflation booms.
Ocean delivery times to send products from China to Europe and the United States have fallen in the last month, though they are still twice as high as they were before coronaviruses hit.
Analysts don't know if these drops are a normal seasonal lull in shipping or a bigger change for the American economy. The Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates in order to cool the economy. appetite for household appliances, garden tools, televisions and other goods has not changed
Jonathan Gold is the vice president of supply chain and customs policy at the National Retail Federation. We haven't seen the impact of inflation yet.
Phil Levy, the chief economist at Flexport, said that shipping times and prices had dropped, and that American companies were amassing larger inventories of goods that had been scarce through the swine flu epidemic. He didn't know what was driving the change.
He wondered if it was because people were being cautious. Is it year round? Is it a decrease in demand? You are put in the position of saying, "I need to see more data"
Mr. Seroka doesn't think consumer demand will fall yet. The port had its second busiest April in history. The cargo it processed in the month of May will be announced on Friday.
Mr. Seroka said that the port was expecting an earlier than normal peak season as volumes out of China rise.
He said, "As inventory levels improve for appliances, furniture and maybe fixture, you might see a little bit of softened in those segments." The retail goods we buy at the big boxes, the home improvement store, even our neighborhood hardware stores are still very good.
He said that a slow down was not happening in his area.
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