WASHINGTON — Joe Biden is promising to shift production of medical equipment and other key pandemic-fighting products “back to U.S. soil," creating jobs and bolstering a domestic supply chain he says has been exposed as inadequate and vulnerable by the coronavirus outbreak. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee's campaign released a plan Tuesday to reinforce stockpiles of a “range of critical products on which the U.S. is dangerously dependent on foreign suppliers" in places like China and Russia. That includes medical equipment and pharmaceuticals, but also energy and grid resilience technologies, semiconductors and key electronics, as well as telecommunications infrastructure and raw materials. If elected in November, Biden promises to initiate immediately a 100-day review of “critical national security risks across America's international supply chain,” while asking Congress to create a permanent, mandatory review process. The former vice president envisions creating a “critical supply chains workforce" that would be part of a larger job creation and economic recovery plan his team has spent weeks promising it will soon release.

Source: International New York Times July 07, 2020 16:58 UTC