Biden's supply chain offense heats up
- Hope King, author of Axios Closer
President Biden meets with CEOs in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 29, 2021. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
The Biden administration’s supply chain offensive expanded yesterday, as the country entered the height of the holiday shopping season.
Catch up quick: The Federal Trade Commission launched a study into the role competition plays in supply chain issues and how those issues might cause consumer hardship.
Why it matters: Ongoing supply-chain problems have pushed inflation to its highest level in 30 years, erasing wage gains and denting consumer confidence.
Details: The FTC has requested, in part, that Walmart, Kroger, Amazon, Tyson Foods and five other companies share internal documents on how supply chain disruptions impacted pricing and profit margins, Axios' Ashley Gold reports.
The backdrop: The new directive came as President Biden held a business roundtable yesterday as well — to discuss supply-chain issues — the second reported meeting of its kind this month.
- Etsy CEO Josh Silverman, who met with President Biden in that meeting, told Axios that he's "heartened" by the administration's infrastructure investments.
- At the same time, Etsy sellers typically don’t rely on overseas production and fulfillment lines, so they're "ready to meet customer demand," he added.
The big picture: Politically speaking, Democrats are worried that the snags will hurt them at the polls come midterms Axios’ Sarah Mucha writes — especially as the approval rating for Biden’s handling of the economy has dipped.