Biden Issues Executive Order to Shore Up Critical Supply Chains
- February 26, 2021
President Biden signed February 24 an executive order aimed at securing the nation’s supply chains for critical and essential goods, which last year buckled under the weight of the COVID-19 pandemic with widespread shortages including personal protective equipment and medicines.
The order calls for a comprehensive review of supply chain risks and directs federal agencies to identify ways to address those risks and vulnerabilities, according to a fact sheet.
The order requires an immediate 100-day review across federal agencies of supply chains in four key products: active pharmaceutical ingredients, which are largely manufactured overseas; critical minerals needed for defense, high-tech, and other products; semiconductors and advanced packaging; and large capacity batteries.
The order also directs agencies to conduct a broader, one-year review of U.S. supply chains in six key sectors, including the public health and biological preparedness industrial base.
Under the order, agencies must make specific policy recommendations to address risks and propose new research and development activities, the fact sheet said.