U.S. and IPEF Partners Establish Supply Chain Bodies and Convene First Virtual Meetings

On July 30, the U.S. Department of Commerce that the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) Agreement Relating to Supply Chain Resilience (Supply Chain Agreement) announced the inaugural virtual meetings of the three supply chain bodies established under the Agreement – the Supply Chain Council, the Crisis Response Network, and the Labor Rights Advisory Board.

A press release on the announcement said, “These meetings mark a monumental step in realizing the partners’ collective goals under the IPEF Supply Chain Agreement, which aims to facilitate closer cooperation among the 14 IPEF partners – Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, the United States, and Vietnam – to strengthen the resilience and competitiveness of critical supply chains and better prepare for and respond to supply chain disruptions that pose a risk to economic prosperity while strengthening labor rights and raising up workers across the region. These latest actions build on the continued progress on IPEF made last month in Singapore, where U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and participating IPEF partners signed the IPEF Clean Economy Agreement, IPEF Fair Economy Agreement, and overarching Agreement on IPEF.”

“The economic impact of COVID-19 exposed vulnerabilities in our supply chains that caused a ripple effect across the country and around the world. To safeguard our supply chains from future global disruptions – whether it be a pandemic or natural disaster – we knew we needed to act swiftly and decisively,” said Secretary Gina Raimondo. “Under President Biden and Vice President Harris’ leadership, we established IPEF, and barely two-years later, are quickly working together with our partners to ensure we’re prepared to mitigate the impact of crises, while building a stronger, more prosperous economy for American workers, consumers, and businesses.”

For the U.S., Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Analysis Grant Harris will serve on the Supply Chain Council and the Crisis Response Network. Deputy Undersecretary of Labor for International Affairs Thea Lee will serve on the Labor Rights Advisory Board, along with Eric Gottwald of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations and Ewa Staworzynska of the United States Council for International Business.

During the meetings, each of the three supply chain bodies elected a Chair and Vice Chair, which will serve for a term of two years. For the Supply Chain Council, the Council members elected the United States as Chair and India as Vice Chair. For the Crisis Response Network, the Network members elected the Republic of Korea as Chair and Japan as Vice Chair. For the Labor Rights Advisory Board, the United States was elected to serve as Chair and Fiji as the Vice Chair.

During its meeting, the Supply Chain Council also adopted a Terms of Reference to guide its operations going forward and discussed priorities for initial work, with the goal of continuing those discussions at its first in-person meeting to be held in Washington, D.C. in September on the margins of a Commerce-led Supply Chain Summit.

The Crisis Response Network discussed near- and longer-term priorities, including conducting a tabletop exercise, along with its first in-person meeting, which will be held on the margins of the Commerce-led Supply Chain Summit.