The following statement can be attributed to Robbie Diamond, Founder and CEO of SAFE:
“Today’s announcement marks a crucial step toward delivering on the Inflation Reduction Act’s goals. While the United States is serious about electrification it can’t be at the expense of national security and jobs. The guidance provides the clarity industry needs to invest in more secure and reliable supply chains for critical minerals and battery components with our allies. But essential work remains to define the foreign entity of concern provision of this law and to determine the extent this will promote the development of minerals processing and cathode and anode manufacturing in North America.
How we define and enforce these provisions will make-or-break the national security benefits of the IRA and will require vigilance and rigorous enforcement to ensure that China and other foreign entities of concern don’t re-infiltrate our supply network. Ultimately, it’s imperative that we expand the circle of allies and partners who can benefit from and contribute to our supply chains – this includes the agreement just reached earlier this week with Japan. However, it’s equally critical that efforts to build out these agreements be coupled with strong audit provisions to protect the integrity of the supply chain to prevent circumvention of the guidance and to promote key parts of the supply chain to take root in North America. We look forward to continuing to work with the administration, industry, and leaders in Congress to make sure the IRA is implemented in a way that makes us a more secure nation, both through more rapidly electrifying the fleet and making our supply chain more secure and resilient.”
This week SAFE and its sister organization, the Electrification Coalition, hosted the SAFE Summit, two days of remarks, panels, discussions and networking by senior business and government leaders on issues crucial to electric vehicles supply chains and infrastructure. Featured speakers included White House Senior Advisor John Podesta, Senator Joe Manchin, Deputy Energy Secretary David Turk, FedEx Founder and Executive Chairman Frederick W. Smith, Siemens USA CEO Barbara Humpton, and The Metals Company CEO Gerard Barron. See SAFESummit.org for the full agenda and updates on the 2024 SAFE Summit.
