\n That could become a problem for the United States: About half the stuff<\/a> Americans buy comes from Asia.\n <\/p>\n \n If Asian factories are dealing with a lack of supplies, should Americans expect shortages, too?\n <\/p>\n \n Possibly \u2013 but not just yet. At least not in any widespread or severe manner. But the longer the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, the harder it will become for the United States to avoid the problems piling up elsewhere.\n <\/p>\n \n Certainly, the red flags are waving.\n <\/p>\n \n War with Iran has threatened the world\u2019s supplies of aluminum, plastics and rubber in particular. The Middle East ships about 25% of the world\u2019s polypropylene and 20% of polyethylene, two of the most-used plastics. It also accounts for a quarter of the world\u2019s sulphur and 15% of its fertilizer.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cYou hear a lot about crude oil and the impacts to diesel and gasoline \u2013 but feedstocks and petrochemicals are in short supply, too,\u201d said Angie Gildea, KPMG global head of oil and gas.\n <\/p>\n \n Several major petrochemical producers, including South Korea\u2019s Yeochun<\/a> and PCS in Singapore<\/a>, have declared \u201cforce majeure,\u201d noted Stephen Brown, chief North American economist at Capital Economics. That means they\u2019re unable to fulfil their commitments to customers.\n <\/p>\n \n Other companies say they\u2019re running out of plastic packaging for their products. A condom maker<\/a> said Tuesday that prices would surge because it can\u2019t access manufacturing materials.\n <\/p>\n \n The S&P 500\u2019s global supply shortages indicator, a key measure of major companies\u2019 reports of supply constraints, has shot higher in recent weeks, creeping above its long-term average for the first time in three years.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe\u2019re [the United States] more exposed than we realize,\u201d said Ross Mayfield, an investment strategist at Baird.\n <\/p>\n \n Unlike tariffs, which Trump telegraphed months in advance, the war surprised many companies and gave them little time to prepare \u2013 particularly businesses heavily reliant on Asian goods.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cTariffs were levied by the administration and could be pulled back by the administration,\u201d noted Mayfield. \u201cIt\u2019s much harder to extricate America from this cleanly.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Repeated fits and starts with negotiations between the United States and Iran suggest no end in sight to the closure of the strait. Kpler forecasts oil supply losses from the strait closure will total 700 million barrels by the end of April.\n <\/p>\n \n Those oil shortages could lead to US goods shortages down the road, Gildea said.\n <\/p>\n \n For example, fuel shortages in Asia could hinder factory employees from getting to work, Gildea said, potentially slowing export production.\n <\/p>\n \n Supply shortages probably won\u2019t approach pandemic levels, Brown said. But time is not our friend. The oil and gas industry expects widespread shortages across multiple categories of goods if the strait remains closed heading into the summer, Gildea said.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe length of this is everything now,\u201d said Mayfield.\n <\/p>\n \n The US economy is feeling pressure from the war in the Middle East \u2013 mainly through higher oil and gas prices. But only a tiny fraction (roughly 7%) of US energy imports ship through the Strait of Hormuz, according to the US Energy Information Administration<\/a>. The US produces the bulk of its energy at home.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThus the story for the US is mainly about prices rather than availability,\u201d noted Nathan Sheets, global chief economist at Citigroup.\n <\/p>\n \n The last shipments of energy products from the Middle East from before the war just arrived in Asia, so it will take time for shortages to grow severe enough that factories need to make major adjustments to their production.\n <\/p>\n \n It\u2019s hard to put a precise timeframe on how long the disruption in the strait would need to last to trigger supply shortages in the United States, Brown noted. Plastics and especially aluminum aren\u2019t warehoused in large supplies.\n <\/p>\n \n Still, Brown predicted it could take three months for plastic shortages to spread around the world and four months until automakers need to cut production because of aluminum shortages.\n <\/p>\n \n Companies hardened and diversified their supply chains following the pandemic and during Trump\u2019s recent tariff campaign, insulating US importers from some of the disruptions they\u2019d otherwise have faced sooner.\n <\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/c-gettyimages-2265075621.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Gas](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/38-038-037-034-033-ap26091087343089.jpg\")
<\/p>\n