SOARING freight costs have been one of the key pain points in the United States economic recovery this year, contributing to inventory shortages and higher prices.
It’s still unclear to what extent and how quickly these higher prices might ease as the recovery progresses. Regardless, they should be seen as what they are: a shock that’s having a cooling effect on economic activity, rather than a long-term driver of inflation.
We’ve been here before, in the 2000’s with high oil prices and a few years ago with tariffs. If freight costs do come down over the coming months, they’ll work as a kind of economic stimulus that would help offset any tightening of monetary policy the Federal Reserve (Fed) might do over that time.
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