Pandemic flashback: Manufacturers can't get supplies

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Axios

8 hours ago


American manufacturers are having pandemic flashbacks: some say tariff disruptions are starting to stack up to the COVID era, with nearly as much difficulty securing critical inputs.

Why it matters: Tariffs were supposed to spur a manufacturing renaissance, not bring the manufacturing economy grinding to a halt.

The big picture: Factories are reporting increasingly longer delivery times for supplies. Material prices are rising at a faster rate. Automakers are warning of supply disruptions shutting down assembly lines, with at least one carmaker pausing production.

This time there is no deadly virus, though trade wars and tariffs are still sending shockwaves through global supply chains, which could leave consumers with fewer options on shelves.

What they're saying: "The administration's tariffs alone have created supply chain disruptions rivaling that of COVID-19," an electric equipment manufacturer told the Institute for Supply Management in the group's most recent sector survey.

State of play: Supplier delivery times are the slowest in 2 years, that survey showed — a result of companies slowing or canceling shipments in the wake of on-again, off-again tariffs.

Suppliers are also struggling to keep up with manufacturers' accelerated requests to get goods into the country before tariffs take effect.

It is taking longer for customs to clear shipments newly subject to tariffs.

The process is further bogged down by companies "haggling" over who should pay the tariff bill, ISM said.

Read more: https://www.axios.com/2025/06/04/tariffs-trump-manufacturers-covid-supply-chain

[IrishBubbaLiberal]

1. Trump phucks up everything he touches

Trump is a disgusting disaster

[JT45242]

2. Mass layoffs and soaring unemployment comes next as factories slow down or shut down

So much winning....wait until the impacts of the aluminum and steel tariffs hit the auto industry in particular. Or construction or a lot of other things.

Mango Mussolini will cause two of the largest recessions of the post Civil war era.

[BurnDoubt]

3. Gee... I wonder how this turns out.

You don't suppose some patriotic Ugliarch will step up to rescue these struggling business?
"Make room in my portfolio for everything, Jared"

[travelingthrulife]

9. These vultures will buy everything that goes under for pennies.

[slightlv]

4. All going according to plan, for trumpy

Kicks tens of thousands of people out of federal work... then start in on the private economy such that they start kicking people out of work. Pretty soon, you have hundreds of thousands of people who will work for pennies. Just like during the Great Depression... which is what we'll be trying to survive at that point -- Musk and Trump's Great Depression 2.0...

[BurnDoubt]

5. Yep. And when you can't pay your mortgage...

Who will own your home? The plan is proceeding along On Track.

[slightlv]

6. This is why I took what little retirement savings I had

and paid cash for a house in my old age. It's not perfect; in fact, in needs a hell of a lot of work and we're too old to do the work ourselves, so we just put up with things the best we can. The one thing I have to worry most about is trying to pay the property taxes on it, no mean feat on a couple of smallish SS checks, especially when it coincides with auto insurance payments.

I'm pretty much accepting that at some point we're going to lose insurance on the house. Because of trump's tariffs on Canadian wood during his first administration, the price increase had me jumping to another insurer. This one was at least honest in why the increase in costs, though they did come in a little cheaper than my original one. Said it would take $300,000 to rebuilt the house I bought for 65k. I kept pleading with them if they thought this house was worth that much, PLEASE buy it from me so I could move to a blue state! (LOL)

I'm not complaining, tho. At least I do have four walls and a (leaky) roof over my head and it's mine as long as the taxes are paid. And the insurance company I'm with now is an all female owned and staffed office. It's a heck of a lot better to deal with than I've ever had before.

[travelingthrulife]

10. This is the end goal.

No way manufacturing comes back until Americans are willing to work for Chinese factory wages.

[Rebl2]

7. Not surprised at all

[FakeNoose]

8. All those CEOs who donated to the GOP are probably pretty steamed now

Who knew? Who could have guessed?