Toymaker slams Biden's port directive: 'Too little too late' to save Christmas
MGA Entertainment CEO calls out president's 'political' response to supply chain crisis
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A toy executive is calling out President Biden for not doing enough to address the global supply chain crisis crippling U.S. ports ahead of the holiday shopping season.
MGA Entertainment CEO Isaac Larian joined "America's Newsroom" Thursday after the president announced Wednesday more U.S. ports will be working 24 hours a day and seven days a week to address the bottlenecks in the system.
"Whether the ports are open 24 hours a day or 48 hours a day, you cannot get labor," Larian said. "If you cannot get labor, you cannot get trucks, you cannot get the merchandise out."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I think this directive is too little, too late. And frankly, it's a political gimmick to me."
During a press briefing on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the White House "cannot guarantee" that Christmas presents will arrive on time.
"We are not the Postal Service, UPS or FedEx. We cannot guarantee," Psaki said. "What we can do is use every lever at the federal government’s disposal to reduce delays, to ensure we are addressing bottlenecks in the system, including ports and the need for them to be open longer hours so that goods can arrive. And we continue to press — not only workers and unions — but also companies to take as many steps as they can to reduce these delays."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Larian blames the labor shortage on White House unemployment policies he says are incentivizing people to stay home instead of work.
"If you're paying people to stay home and they make more money just staying home than working, they don't want to come to work," he said.
Larian fears one of the holiday season's most popular toys, LOL Surprise Movie Magic, will only have 60 percent of demand met due to the shortage.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"A lot of kids are not going to be able to get their LOL Movie Magic surprise under the Christmas tree or Hanukkah tree this year," he said.
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Larian suggests using migrants detained at the southern border to fill the labor gaps.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Let them come to work, let them free instead of feeding them and giving them money to live where they are living," he said.
"I've been doing this for 42 years. I have never, ever seen something like this before. And frankly, the administration knew about this and -- what they are doing is too little, too late to save this holiday."
Fox News' Tyler O'Neil contributed to this report.