Port strike: Retailers brace for potential pain [Video]

A strike could shut down 36 ports from Maine to Texas that handle about half the goods shipped into and out of the United States.

BALTIMORE — With a dockworkers’ strike threatening to close ports on the East and Gulf coasts beginning this week, Chris Butler is growing worried.

Butler is CEO of the National Tree Company, and, like many businesses, his is counting on shipments that are en route from Asia but won’t reach their ports before an expected strike by longshoremen starting at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time Tuesday.

The company, based in New Jersey, is an importer of artificial Christmas trees and other holiday decorations. If a strike were to last just a few days, there might be time afterward to unload the trees, transport them to warehouses and have them ready for customers this season.

Yet if a strike were to keep ports closed until, say, November, about 150,000 trees might not arrive in time for the peak shopping season, …