U.S. President Joe Biden convened the new White House Council on Supply Chain Resilience on Monday, where he announced new actions aimed at strengthening America’s supply chain to lower costs for U.S. families, while warning companies against taking advantage of inflation by price gouging.
“We know that prices are still too high for too many things, that times are still too tough for too many families,” Biden said. “But we've made progress.”
Among the new 30 actions, the council invoked the Cold War-era Defense Production Act, to ensure investments in domestic manufacturing of medicines designated as key to American security. Some $35 million has been earmarked to be invested in the production of materials for injectable medicines.
It's hoped that the initiatives lower overall costs for Americans and ensure timely production and deliveries of goods.
Biden was joined by Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, who said the U.S. is seeing lower inflation and fewer supply chain issues since problems peaked during recovery from the COVID pandemic in 2021.
“The pandemic had led to the most profound and widespread set of disruptions to our transportation systems since 9/11, including enormous strain on our supply chains,” Buttigieg said.
Biden also announced a new agreement with “13 countries in the Indo-Pacific” that is aimed at identifying supply chain bottlenecks before they turn into more widespread issues.
The new council will be co-chaired by Lael Brainard, director of the White House National Economic Council, and Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
