President Biden has signed an executive order to review key global supply chains in order to avoid shortages and economic risks. The review will include semiconductors, medical equipment, and other goods considered critical during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. This assessment comes amidst fears that American industries are relying too much on foreign suppliers, particularly coming from China.
The order will also start yearlong reviews into the six sectors: energy, food production, information technology, defense, public health, and transportation. The White House indicates that for now, it is not “taking anything off the table” and strategies to fix the supply chains will depend on identified shortages.
An administration official told Politico: “clearly we are looking at the risks posed by dependence on competitor nations, but that is only one of a range of risks we are looking at.” The news comes as auto producers across the US stumble upon a global shortage in semiconductors, the computer chips used in almost every piece of technology we use, which caused great disruption for car makers.