WASHINGTON — June 8, 2022 — The National Retail Federation (NRF) today announced it is launching the second phase of a seven-figure advocacy campaign with broadcast, digital and out-of-home advertising, urging the Biden administration to repeal tariffs on goods from China to lower costs for businesses and consumers who are being severely impacted by inflation. The ad campaign includes a 30-second television spot called “Lower Inflation Now by Repealing Tariffs.”

“No one is closer to the consumer than the retail industry, and retailers are doing everything they can to keep prices down despite the economic pressures of high inflation,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said. “We began a grassroots effort months ago and are now expanding our efforts with an ad campaign because the urgency for action grows each day.”

“We encourage the administration to work with our trading partners, particularly China, to roll back tariffs that contribute to the high cost of goods and services and provide much-needed relief for American consumers,” Shay said. “Tariffs are among the many costs out of retailers’ control that drive up prices paid by consumers. But unlike other costs, the administration can eliminate tariffs with the stroke of a pen.”

NRF’s new ad campaign builds on the organization’s advocacy efforts encouraging the administration to lower or eliminate tariffs that have cost U.S. importers $136.5 billion since 2018 and cost the average American household more than $1,200 a year.

NRF is also urging Congress to address the nation’s labor shortage and supply chain crisis as additional concrete solutions to lower inflation.

“While change takes time, repealing and lowering tariffs will help relieve pressure on American consumers,” Shay said. “We know this is only one of the solutions under consideration to  rein in skyrocketing prices but we urge the administration to prioritize the repeal of tariffs.”

NRF’s Lower Inflation Now grassroots campaign began in April and has called on President Biden and Congress to make everyday necessities more affordable by repealing the China tariffs, easing the supply chain crisis by passing the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, addressing the labor shortage by enacting immigration reform and lowering the cost to process transactions by increasing competition in the payments system.

Posted: June 8, 2022

Source: The National Retail Federation (NRF)

WASHINGTON — June 8, 2022 — Imports at the nation’s major retail container ports should see near-record volume again this month as retailers work to meet still-strong consumer demand and also protect themselves against potential disruptions at West Coast ports, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released today by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

“We’re in for a busy summer at the ports,” NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold said. “Back-to-school supplies are already arriving, and holiday merchandise will be right behind them. And the big wild card is what will happen with West Coast labor negotiations with the current contract set to expire on July 1. We continue to encourage the parties to remain at the table until a deal is done, but some of the surge we’ve seen may be a safeguard against any problems that might arise.”

Imports from China should start to grow again now that the government has relaxed its Covid Zero policy and begun to release the population of Shanghai from a months-long lockdown, Hackett Associates Founder Ben Hackett said.

“The anticipation is that the Chinese manufacturing and transportation sectors will quickly get back to normal,” Hackett said. Nonetheless, “China’s recovery will need the government’s support in order to get the supply chain functioning normally again to provide the input required by the manufacturing sector.”

U.S. ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 2.26 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units – one 20-foot container or its equivalent – in April, the latest month for which final numbers are available. That was down 3.6 percent from March’s 2.34 million TEU – the record for the number of containers imported in a single month since NRF began tracking imports in 2002 – but up 5.1 percent year over year.

Ports have not yet reported May numbers, but Global Port Tracker projected the month at 2.31 million TEU, down 0.9 percent from 2.33 million TEU in May 2021, the second-busiest month on record. June is also forecast at 2.31 million TEU, up 7.5 percent year over year, which would leave May and June tied for the third-highest volume.

July is forecast at 2.3 million TEU, up 4.8 percent from last year; August at 2.28 million TEU, up 0.2 percent; September at 2.13 million TEU, down 0.4 percent, and October also at 2.13 million TEU, down 3.8 percent.

The first six months of 2022 are expected to total 13.5 million TEU, up 5.3 percent year over year. Imports for all of 2021 totaled 25.8 million TEU, a 17.4 percent increase over 2020’s previous annual record of 22 million TEU.

How to build a stronger and more sustainable supply chain will be addressed as retailers, industry experts and technology innovators meet at the NRF Supply Chain 360 conference in Cleveland June 20-21.

Global Port Tracker, which is produced for NRF by Hackett Associates, provides historical data and forecasts for the U.S. ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma on the West Coast; New York/New Jersey, Port of Virginia, Charleston, Savannah, Port Everglades, Miami and Jacksonville on the East Coast, and Houston on the Gulf Coast. The report is free to NRF retail members, and subscription information is available at NRF.com/PortTracker

Posted: June 8, 2022

Source: The National Retail Federation (NRF)