TIME.com: Spoil Ports While the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and port employers resumed contract talks with the help of a federal mediator, little progress was evident. The impasse was costing businesses an estimated $2 billion a day, and threatened an already slumping U.S. economy that depends more than ever on a just-in-time supply chain. The West Coast docks support an estimated 4 million jobs across the U.S. In Fremont, Calif., an auto assembly plant owned jointly by GM and Toyota had to stop production for lack of engines and transmissions, idling 5,100 workers. Such retailers as the Gap, Target and Wal-Mart, which expect to do 40% of their annual business during the holiday season, would suffer a blow to their profits from any long disruption in supplies of toys, apparel and appliances from the Far East.