“American households,workers,and companies have increasingly felt the strain of shortages of essential products - from medicine to food to computer chips,” the White House said.
A lack of PPE and other medical equipment left hospital workers resorting to reusing masks and gloves to try to stay safe from coronavirus. Carmakers were forced to shut down plants because of a shortage of computer chips,putting workers on furlough.
The initial review will look at four products:digital chips,large capacity batteries used in electric cars,pharmaceuticals and rare earth minerals.
The administration will then take a closer look at six sectors:defence,public health and biological preparedness,communications technology,transportation,energy,and food production.
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In a sign of the urgency of the matter,Biden met on Wednesday at the White House with a bipartisan group of legislators to discuss the globalcomputer chip shortage. He hoped to address the potential national security and economic risks of having to import sensitive goods from countries such as China.
While the executive order does not mention China by name,experts say the move is aimed at countering the US’s biggest economic rival,which produces most of theworld’s supply of minerals used in phones,the defence sector and electric cars.