The president also attacked ‘foreign’ shipping companies, saying: ‘They raked in the profits and the costs were passed on, as you might guess, directly to consumers, sticking to American families and businesses. because they could – furniture, appliances, clothes, anything and everything across the Pacific on a ship from Asia – saw a skyrocketing price tag, and families and businesses felt the pressure here at home.”
The new law aims to improve oversight of shipping and makes changes that proponents say will reduce inflation and reduce export backlogs. The White House said the law would help reduce costs for American retailers, farmers and consumers.
A ceremony Thursday at the White House to sign the bill took place amid a number of recent economic concerns facing the nation.
At Thursday’s ceremony, Biden reiterated that tackling inflation remained his “number one priority,” saying he believed the legislation would reduce inflation “at least marginally.”
And despite comments from his staff and advisers in recent weeks pushing back on inflation concerns by suggesting that high inflation or gasoline prices remain worse in other parts of the world, the president remarked that “it’s no consolation that inflation is higher in the rest of the world, and gas prices are higher everywhere else in the world. It doesn’t matter. It’s way too high here.
During his State of the Union address in March, the president criticized the “exploitation” that shipping companies are doing by passing on high prices to consumers. And ahead of the signing ceremony, a White House official explained that rising shipping costs “is a major contributing factor to rising costs for American families.”
“During the pandemic, shipping carriers have raised their prices by up to 1,000%. And, too often, these shipping carriers refuse to bring U.S. exports back to Asia, leaving with empty containers instead. farmers and ranchers – and our economy – a lot of money,” the official added.