Estimates from the National Association of Manufacturers show the strike jeopardizes $2.1 billion in trade daily, and the total economic damage could reduce GDP by as much as $5 billion a day. NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons urged Biden to force a resumption of operations while negotiations continue.

Nearly 50,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) are on strike Tuesday against the nation’s East and Gulf Coast ports, choking off the flow of many of America’s imports and exports in what could become the country’s most disruptive work stoppage in decades.