Multiple news outlets reported last week that President Biden will soon issue an executive order aimed at reviewing critical US supply chains and ultimately find ways to reduce the country’s reliance on foreign suppliers for technology, raw materials and medical supplies.
Citing officials familiar with the matter, the reports said that the order will focus on both government contractors and private industry in its efforts to secure US industrial supplies from competitors, including China.
The order will reportedly closely follow the plan Biden laid out in his presidential campaign. It will begin with a 100-day review to identify critical national security risks across US international supply chains and will ask Congress to enact mandatory quarterly critical supply chain reviews to institute the process permanently.
Several of the reports said the order is expected to be released in the coming weeks as of Feb. 2.
Bloomberg reported that the order would direct a number of agencies to produce reports on critical sectors, with some due in one year and others due in the first half of this year. The Financial Times added that these reports would serve as a broad examination of US supply chains, including procurement.
The rest of the plan, first outlined in July by the Biden campaign, reportedly centers on the following three points:
Using the full power of the federal government to rebuild US domestic manufacturing capacity of supply chains for critical products
Implementing a comprehensive approach to ensure the US has critical supplies needed for future crises and national security
Working with allies to protect their supply chains and open new markets to US exports
The reports came just eight days Biden signed a “Made in America” executive order aimed to support US manufacturers, businesses and workers that boasted it would “ensure that our future is made in all of America by all of America’s workers.”