In pictures | Are the toilet paper shelves completely empty due to a port strike?

Many empty rows of toilet paper, eerily reminiscent of the pandemic era, are believed to have been caused not by a port strike but by consumer panic.

“They ran out of toilet paper from my local Walmart in Virginia,” said one user on social network X on Tuesday, in a comment accompanied by a photo of the empty shelves.

“Costco and Target shelves in Monmouth County, New Jersey are out of paper towels,” another person posted on X.

“I saw people buying toilet paper and water because of the port strike. A Costco employee told me they were out of toilet paper this morning,” he said.

However, the strike at ports in the United States and Canada will not affect the supply of these products.

Indeed, the professional association representing paper manufacturers, the American Forest and Paper Association, explained to CNN that the effect of the strike was to disrupt exports to foreign markets rather than imports of the product.

There will be no shortage of toilet paper as a result of the strike.

However, this did not prevent people from rushing to stock up for fear of shortages.