From The Editor

The U.S. economy received a reprieve last week when the International Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance Ltd. reached a tentative agreement on a wage dispute. The agreement ended a brief, but costly, three-day strike at U.S. ports on the East and Gulf coasts.

Alas, this might just be a temporary stay of execution. The deal merely pushes the Master Contract until Jan. 15, past the presidential election and Christmas shopping seasons but not solving the primary issue.

At odds is the ability of the port operators to begin automating some of the tasks at their facilities, as ports in Europe and Asia do. This seems to be a much stickier concern  for both sides of the dispute.

As the global supply chain nightmare that followed in the wake of the pandemic demonstrated, the ports are crucial to the sound operation of the domestic economy, something that even wholesale reshoring can’t fully get around. We will be dependent on products made elsewhere, just as some of our products will continue to be destined for the rest of the world.

Here's hoping the two sides use these next three months wisely, working out a deal before it becomes a major headache for the next president, who will take office just five days after the new deadline.