The ongoing 2018-19 U.S. Government Shutdown has had a direct impact on CES 2019, with many exhibitors, including American companies, rendered unable to execute their CES strategies for the year. Several companies we interacted with today, with whom we had scheduled appointments weeks ahead to visit their showfloor or private-suite exhibitions, either had nothing to show us (substituted in the last minute with existing products bought off stores), or they had far fewer exhibits than they expected to put out.The U.S. Government shutdown has caused severe delays in U.S. Customs and Border Protection clearing imports of CES exhibit samples and prototypes, even for American companies trying to get their unreleased product prototypes into the country from offshore manufacturing sites across Asia. SeaSonic USA, a respectable power supply manufacturer, was completely stripped of samples, with all their exhibits held up in customs. Some companies like Alphacool managed to get some of their exhibits through well in time. We're hearing similar horror-stories from several manufacturers.