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Home | Internacional | Biden orders review of US supply chains
Postado em 2 de março de 2021 | 17:15

Biden orders review of US supply chains

Comprehensive review of the country’s logistics resilience aims to identify risks and vulnerabilities to ‘protect the United States from facing shortages of critical products’, focusing initially on pharmaceuticals, minerals, semiconductors, and large capacity batteries.

US President Joe Biden has launched a comprehensive review of the resilience of the country’s supply chains to identify risks and vulnerabilities to “protect the United States from facing shortages of critical products”.

Freight forwarder Expeditors noted that the Executive Order (EO) includes a 100-day review to “identify near term steps… to address vulnerabilities in the supply chains” for key products including pharmaceuticals, minerals, semiconductors, and large capacity batteries.

And a broader review will take place for one year and will focus on risks, vulnerabilities, and recommendations for six sectors: The defense industrial base; The public health and biological preparedness industrial base; The information and communications technology (ICT) industrial base; The energy sector industrial base; The transportation industrial base; and Supply chains for agricultural commodities and food production.”

fact sheet from The White House outlined that the Executive Order was intended “to help create more resilient and secure supply chains for critical and essential goods”.

It noted: “In recent years, American households, workers, and companies have increasingly felt the strain of shortages of essential products – from medicine to food to computer chips. Last year’s shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) for front-line healthcare workers at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic were unacceptable. Recent shortages of automotive semiconductor chips have forced slowdowns at car manufacturing plants, highlighting how shortages can hurt US workers.”

The White House noted: “While we cannot predict what crisis will hit us, we should have the capacity to respond quickly in the face of challenges. The United States must ensure that production shortages, trade disruptions, natural disasters and potential actions by foreign competitors and adversaries never leave the United States vulnerable again.

“Today’s action delivers on the President’s campaign commitment to direct his Administration to comprehensively address supply chain risks. The task of making our supply chains more secure can also be a source of well-paid jobs for communities across our country, and steps will be taken to ensure that the benefits of this work flow to all Americans.”

The White House said the Executive Order “launches a comprehensive review of US supply chains and directs federal Departments and Agencies to identify ways to secure US supply chains against a wide range of risks and vulnerabilities. Building resilient supply chains will protect the United States from facing shortages of critical products.

Facilitating needed investments

“It will also facilitate needed investments to maintain America’s competitive edge, and strengthen US national security.”

The order directs an immediate 100-day review across federal agencies to address vulnerabilities in the supply chains of four key products: pharmaceuticals, minerals, semiconductors, and large capacity batteries.

The White House explained these more detail, highlighting:

1. APIs are the part of a pharmaceutical product that contains the active drug. In recent decades, more than 70 percent of API production facilitators supplying the U.S. have moved offshore.  This work will complement the ongoing work to secure supply chains needed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

2. Critical minerals are an essential part of defense, high-tech, and other products. From rare earths in our electric motors and generators to the carbon fiber used for airplanes—the United States needs to ensure we are not dependent upon foreign sources or single points of failure in times of national emergency.

3. Semiconductors and Advanced Packaging. The United States is the birthplace of this technology, and has always been a leader in semiconductor development. However, over the years we have underinvested in production—hurting our innovative edge—while other countries have learned from our example and increased their investments in the industry.

4. Large capacity batteries, such as those used in electric vehicles: As we take action to tackle the climate crisis, we know that will lead to large demand for new energy technologies like electric vehicle batteries. By identifying supply chain risks, we can meet the President’s commitment to accelerate U.S. leadership of clean energy technologies. For example, while the U.S. is a net exporter of electric vehicles, we are not a leader in the supply chain associated with electric battery production. The U.S. could better leverage our sizeable lithium reserves and manufacturing know-how to expand domestic battery production.

It said the 100-day review “will identify near term steps the administration can take, including with Congress, to address vulnerabilities in the supply chains for these critical goods”.

The second part of the order calls for a more in-depth one-year review of a broader set of US supply chains that will include: focus on six key sectors: the defense industrial base; the public health and biological preparedness industrial base; the information and communications technology (ICT) industrial base; the energy sector industrial base; the transportation industrial base; and supply chains for agricultural commodities and food production.

Agencies and Departments are directed to review a variety of risks to supply chains and industrial bases. “For example, these reviews must identify critical goods and materials within supply chains, the manufacturing or other capabilities needed to produce those materials, as well as a variety of vulnerabilities created by failure to develop domestic capabilities”, the White House said.

Key manufacturing and production assets

“Agencies and Departments are also directed to identify locations of key manufacturing and production assets, the availability of substitutes or alternative sources for critical goods, the state of workforce skills and identified gaps for all sectors, and the role of transportation systems in supporting supply chains and industrial bases.”

It said the review should include “recommendations on actions that should be taken to improve resiliency”, with agencies directed to make specific policy recommendations to address risks, as well as proposals for new research and development activities.

It would be part of a “sustained commitment to supply chain resiliency”, and would include consultation with external stakeholders.

“The government cannot secure supply chains on its own. It requires partnership and consultation with the American people,” the White House acknowledged. “The EO directs the Administration to consult widely with outside stakeholders, such as those in industry, academia, non-governmental organizations, communities, labour unions, and State, local, territorial, and Tribal governments.”

 

 

 

Source: Lloyd’s


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