Trade expert says Biden's port strike 'mistake' allowed ‘premeditated attack on the American economy’

President Biden is making a huge "mistake" by refusing to intervene in the massive dockworkers' strike affecting East and Gulf Coast ports, trade expert Eric Hoplin told FOX Business on Tuesday.

"I've joined 200 other trade association CEOs representing the entire economy. We're calling on the president to invoke Taft-Hartley to get involved, to get our ports back in order," said Hoplin, CEO of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW), which represents 30,000 companies that account for one-third of the American economy by supplying businesses with products needed to serve customers across multiple commerce sectors.

The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) says the Taft-Hartley Act authorizes presidents to intervene in labor disputes after determining that there is a "threatened or actual strike or lockout."

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told FOX Business' Edward Lawrence on Tuesday that the Biden administration has not used Taft-Hartley and does not intend to. She also said the administration urges the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) to "come to the table and present a fair proposal to ILA [International Longshoremen's Association]."

THE TAFT-HARTLEY ACT: WHY BIDEN COULD USE THIS LABOR TO PREEMPT A PORT STRIKE

Hoplin believes the Biden administration's rhetoric is responsible for the debacle.

"When the union threatened to strike, the administration said from the beginning, the president said he would not intervene. That essentially gave the union a green light to go ahead, so what we've seen is they have been away from the bargaining table for the last three months. They won't even talk to USMX, so they don't want a deal. This is a premeditated attack on the American economy, and they're starting to carry it out today," he told "Varney & Co."

"It looks like the administration is completely out to lunch. They've been out to lunch on the economy since the beginning of the administration," he added.

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The ILA continues to deny USMX's claims that the union refuses to come to the bargaining table, according to a Politico report.

At the same time, the report claimed the economic aftershocks from the strike could have negative impacts on the Biden-Harris administration, particularly as the vice president attempts to characterize the economy positively.

The ILA, representing approximately 45,000 workers, began its first strike since 1977 as the clock struck midnight on Tuesday, signaling the end of a six-year contract with USMX, which represents port employers.

With the ILA demanding increased compensation and protection from automation at ports, negotiations have reached a standstill.

As of now, there's no indication of when the strike could end.

Hoplin said the union's push to ban automation at gates and for cranes moving containers and unloading cargo is "unrealistic."

"Look around the globe. Look at the Port of Shanghai in China, one of the busiest ports on the planet: fully automated cranes, fully autonomous vehicles, moving everything at lightning speed in China. Same thing in Singapore. Same thing at Rotterdam in the Netherlands. By the way, Rotterdam started moving to automation 30 years ago. We're already three decades behind," he said.

Unionized dockworkers at East and Gulf Coast ports contrarily argue a shift to automation would result in job loss.

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FOX Business' Eric Revell and Maddie Coggins contributed to this report.