Story highlights Tom Perez to CNN: Port strike won't cause permanent damage to economy

Perez: 'I'm confident that we can recover quickly'

(CNN) Labor Secretary Tom Perez said Saturday he believes the U.S. economy can "recover quickly" from the months-long labor dispute that has crippled ports along the West Coast but acknowledged business owners across the country have already suffered losses.

Perez helped broker a tentative contract agreement on Friday between dockworkers and their employers after President Barack Obama dispatched him to San Francisco this week.

In an interview with CNN hours after the deal, Perez said he's spoken to many business owners whose livelihoods took a hit because of the protracted dispute.

"I'm ever mindful of the fact that there certainly has been some damage done," Perez said. "If you talk to the citrus farmers whose citrus rotted on the port, that's damage that has been done."

Perez added, however, that he believes the conflict was resolved before it could do more permanent damage to country's 2015 economic outlook.

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