East and Gulf Coast Port Strike Could Halt $5 Billion in Daily Trade

U.S. East and Gulf Coast port workers are set to strike at midnight Monday, potentially halting trade from Maine to Texas and costing the economy $5 billion a day. The dispute centers on wage negotiations between the International Longshoremen's Association and the United States Maritime Alliance, with no talks currently scheduled.

U.S. East and Gulf Coast port workers are poised to initiate a strike at midnight on Monday, a move that threatens to halt container traffic from Maine to Texas and could incur daily economic losses of up to $5 billion.

The labor contract between the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) union, representing 45,000 port workers, and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) employer group is set to expire late Monday. Negotiations are currently at a standstill, primarily over wage disputes. The ILA announced on Sunday that a port strike would commence at 12:01 a.m. ET on Tuesday. They accused USMX of ignoring a half-century of wage suppression.

If the port workers walk off the job, it will be the first coast-wide ILA strike since 1977, affecting ports that handle about half of the nation's ocean shipping. The strike complicates the political landscape for President Joe Biden just weeks before a crucial election, with potential economic impacts rippling across various sectors including food, automobiles, and holiday retail sales.

(With inputs from agencies.)