Posts tagged imports
A lot of US autoworkers like the idea of auto tariffs. But some are being laid off as a result
April 8, 2025 // “It’s more of the same from Stellantis, unfortunately,” he told CNN Thursday, the day the layoffs were announced. “Stellantis, which has had several months to prepare, announces it will use employees as collateral damage.” But the options for Stellantis are not good ones. If it assumes the cost of the tariffs on cars assembled in Canada and Mexico, vehicle production will become unprofitable. If it charges customers the full cost of the tariffs, it will probably price them out of the market. Alternatively, automakers could simply decide to no longer build those models.
Labor unions call on Trump to boost US shipbuilding against increasing Chinese dominance
February 20, 2025 // Last year under President Joe Biden, the unions filed a petition seeking to address China’s shipbuilding under Section 301 of the 1974 U.S. Trade Act, hoping to start a process by which tariffs and other measures could be enacted. The letter notes China manufactured more than 1,000 ocean-going vessels in 2023, while the United States made fewer than 10 ships. It adds that the Chinese shipbuilding industry received more than $100 billion in government support from 2010 to 2018, such that Chinese shipyards accounted for the majority of worldwide orders last year.
Largest port on U.S. East Coast, New York/New Jersey, begins prepping for what could be first union strike since 1977
September 20, 2024 // The ILA represents over 85,000 port workers, and a strike would shut down five of the 10 busiest ports in North America, and a total of 36 ports along the East and Gulf Coasts. Close to half (43%-49%) of all monthly U.S. imports would be impacted, representing billions of dollars in trade, and logistics firms are preparing contingency plans last used during Covid and 2018 tariffs. Currently, there is an estimated $34 billion in freight in route to these ports on 147 ocean vessels.
West Coast port dispute poses latest threat to supply chain
July 1, 2022 // The tenuous West Coast port contract negotiations, which began in May, have centered around wages, worker safety and automation. The union has pointed to ocean carriers’ record-smashing profits during the pandemic, while shippers have insisted that port workers enjoy competitive salaries that average six figures. The ILWU has pushed back on shipping companies’ push to automate port systems over the threat of job losses, while shippers claim that U.S. ports must be modernized to boost efficiency. Jess Dankert, Jay Timmons,