The Trump and Biden stimulus packages, coupled with easy money from the Fed, led to a surge in demand even as the US economy was missing millions of workers.
Standard economic theory holds that such an increase in demand with compromised supply might be met through surging imports and a swelling trade deficit, and indeed, both are visible in the statistics.
The trade deficit has exploded since the beginning of the pandemic.
This has resulted in surge of goods imports, up 16% in October compared to the 2019 average.
Source: BEA International Transactions, International Services, and International Investment Position Tables; BEA U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services, October 2021, Exhibit 5. U.S. Trade in Goods
Burgeoning goods imports implies rapidly rising activity at US ports, for example, at Long Beach in California. We can see this on the graph below, measured in TEUs, that is, 20-foot-equivalent unit or 20-foot-long cargo containers.
Source: Port of Long Beach, Port Statistics, TEUs Archive, 1995 to Present Month
Inbound cargo traffic surged by 19% in the July 2020 - October 2021 period compared to the 2017-2019 average. This pushed the port to historically unprecedented levels of activity which it was unable to accommodate in real time.
Exports were largely flat; however, they are down about 6% over the last six months compared to the 2019 average.
Interestingly, exports of empty containers have also soared, up more than one-third over typical levels.
The argument that somehow the port, or similar ports, are operating below normal levels because of a lack of labor, containers, rolling stock or offloading assets is categorically contradicted by the data. The ports have been running flat out, the result of surging imports due to the stimulus policies of the Trump and Biden administrations, as well as of the US Federal Reserve. Put another way, the supply chain crisis is entirely man-made.