Biden to Issue Executive Order for Critical Supply Chain Review
President Joe Biden is set to order a comprehensive governmental review of supply chains to find and shore up vulnerabilities.
The executive order comes in response to the dire shortages of medical supplies seen during the early days of the pandemic. Involving organizations like the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice, the 100-day review will take a wide purview.
Responding to Worldwide Disruptions
The U.S. faced one of its most significant supply chain challenges as COVID-19 reared its head. As a result of the pandemic, a sudden demand for PPE and other medical materials arrived just as the world economy was heading into a self-imposed slowdown. Hospitals and treatment centers were desperate for sanitizing products, face masks, gloves, and more.
Indeed, as the situation worsened, these items became scarce. The pandemic created a logistics squeeze that seemingly exposed some of the industry’s fraying seems.
According to FreightWaves, Biden originally announced a plan to evaluate supply chain weaknesses in July 2020. At the time, candidate Biden floated the executive order as an opportunity to examine logistics elements that are critical to national security and vulnerable to disruption.
Investigating Supply Chain Stability
According to reports from Bloomberg and FreightWaves, the executive order aims to prepare US supply chains for global disruptions beyond the current pandemic. An array of governmental agencies will coordinate to complete the assessment and propose fixes to bolster the nation’s supply chains against disruptions.
And it’s not just the public sector that will be under scrutiny. The Financial Times reports that the executive order will explore private sector issues as well.
We cannot yet speak to the conclusions and measures that may come from the review process. But we can look to the previous COVID-19 executive order signed in January to gauge the administration’s supply chain priorities. This order emphasized rebuilding stateside manufacturing capacity and opening up new markets for American exports.
Scarbrough Global continues to monitor supply chain and trade prerogatives of the U.S. government. Contact us to stay informed about the latest logistics policy developments.
