President Joseph Biden recently signed an executive order directing federal agencies to review supply chain security risks. The order primarily covers critical imported imported items such as batteries and pharmaceuticals, but importantly, also covers the Information and Communications Technology sector, particularly imported semiconductors. The Secretaries of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Health and Human Services, Transportation, and a joint Commerce/Homeland Security effort have one year to report on cyber risks that could disrupt the U.S. supply chain.
What do the experts say?
Arnold & Porter: Biden Administration Supply Chain EO Creates Opportunities and Risks in Key Manufacturing Sectors
On February 24, 2021 President Biden signed an Executive Order (EO) on America’s Supply Chains as a step toward fulfilling the Biden campaign’s promise to address US supply chain vulnerabilities exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent national shortages of crucial resources, including medical supplies and semiconductors. The EO calls for creating more resilient and secure supply chains for “critical” and “essential” goods, including four specific product categories—semiconductors, high-capacity batteries, critical minerals, and pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), as well as six broader industrial base sectors: defense, public health, information and communications technology, energy, transportation, and food supply.
Wiley: President Biden Signs EO to Strengthen Critical Supply Chains
On February 24, 2021, President Biden signed an executive order (EO) instituting a formal, whole-of-government strategy to develop more resilient and secure supply chains across the United States. The EO calls for a comprehensive review of domestic production, research and development capabilities, and the formulation of strategies to strengthen critical sectors. The intended outcome is to protect U.S. industries from “[p]andemics and other biological threats, cyber-attacks, climate shocks and extreme weather events, terrorist attacks, geopolitical and economic competition, and other conditions [that] can reduce critical manufacturing capacity and the availability and integrity of critical goods, products, and services.” The potential outcomes from the EO reviews could include: changes to domestic and international trade policy, implementing federal incentives and procurement, education and workforce reforms, changes in federal law and regulation, and engaging allies and partners to strengthen supply chains.
Taft: Biden Administration To Review Critical US Supply Chain Posthaste
The global COVID-19 pandemic has illuminated a number of systemic issues in the U.S. Last week, the Biden administration took aim at what it considers a critical infrastructure in the U.S.: the American supply chain. To ensure access to critical items during future events such as “pandemics and other biological threats, cyber-attacks, climate shocks and severe weather events, terrorist attacks, geopolitical and economic competition, and other conditions that can reduce manufacturing capacity” President Biden issued an Executive Order (EO) designed to review the supply chain in two phases.
Wilmer Hale: Biden Orders Reviews of Critical Supply Chains
On February 24, President Biden signed an executive order for a series of reviews of global supply chains—the latest government effort to create more resilient and secure supply chains for critical materials and goods. The reviews will involve multiple departments within the Executive Branch and will implicate a broad range of policy-related concerns. While the order does not single out any country in particular, it will likely focus on China, whose dominance of key supply chains is widely perceived as imperiling US economic and national security, as well as other nations “that are, or are likely to become, unfriendly or unstable.”
