Request for Comments on Commerce Supply Chain Risk Assessment and IPEF Supply Chains

General Methodology Questions for Supply Chain Risk Assessment

• What tools, approaches, and methodologies do you recommend that Commerce utilize in order to identify priority products and sectors at elevated risk of supply chain disruption, particularly those of relevance to the United States based on national and/or economic security?

• More specifically, what definitions, indicators, and data sets do you recommend that Commerce use to evaluate the following aspects of supply chain risk:

  • Criticality of the product or sector to the United States

  • Vulnerability of the product or sector to supply chain disruption

  • Resiliency of the product or sector in the face of supply chain disruption

• What tools, approaches, and methodologies could Commerce use to assess a supply chain’s areas of greatest vulnerability? How can those vulnerabilities be quantified and tracked over time?

• What factors influence your organization’s evaluation of risk in your supply chains? What additional data, information, or analysis from the U.S. government would you view as valuable in this assessment?

• How should the U.S. government leverage technological advancements to foster data collection, analysis, and dissemination for both public and private entities?

• What data, indicia, or criteria might help Commerce identify those supply chains where the market would be least likely to prevent or quickly resolve a disruption?

IPEF-Related Questions

• How should Commerce assess “significant or widespread economic disruptions” for purposes of the IPEF Supply Chain Agreement? What thresholds or metrics should Commerce consider in assessing the risk of such disruptions for the purposes of identifying critical sectors and key goods?

• Which, if any, of the factors listed in Article 10 of the IPEF Supply Chain Agreement should Commerce prioritize in making its determinations of critical sectors or key goods for cooperation under this Agreement? Please offer a justification.

• In your view, bearing in mind the seven factors outlined above, what sectors and goods best fit the criteria for “critical sectors” and “key goods” for cooperation under the IPEF Supply Chain Agreement and why?

• For those sectors and goods that Commerce should consider “critical sectors” and “key goods” for cooperation under the IPEF Supply Chain Agreement, what types of activities, either by governments, by companies, or via public-private cooperation, would be most valuable to the private sector?

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