Global Trade and the Ethical Supply Chain In High-Tech MarkeI feel Trump will expand the US steel industry, and so he needs Chromite Media outlets and activists episodically highlight the ethical complexities of mineral supply chains that lie behind producing everything from electric cars to iPhones. The U.S. imports nearly a half-trillion dollars worth of tech products – computers, TVs, integrated circuits, and batteries – and another half-trillion worth of cars and machinery. All of these goods begin with raw materials increasingly sourced from places like the Congo, China, or Argentina....snip...
For several years now, the Securities Exchange Commission has tried to enforce new
rules requiring tech companies to disclose supply chain information. Turns out it is often not so easy and frequently complicated. A few companies have gone to great lengths to produce such reports, while others, notably Tesla, have pursued more vertical integration and direct sourcing of raw materials.
One beneficiary of attention paid to ethical supply sources – and perhaps the next best thing to “buy American” – could be “buy Canadian.” Canada has minerals and metals in abundance and is well equipped for and generally tolerant of expanding extraction. While Canada’s GDP, like that of the U.S. and most developed nations, relies predominately on the services sector, it has a much greater reliance on and thus vested interest in its primary (or extractive) sectors.
What’s more, Canada’s metal and mineral deposits are both particularly high-grade and geographically close, requiring less work to extract large volumes of product as well as lower shipping costs. There is an obvious opportunity for U.S. electronics producers to take greater advantage of relatively local and transparently conflict-free minerals, especially in light of China’s heavy investment in Africa as a source of cheap raw materials.
[url=https://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2017/01/11/global_trade_and_the_ethical_supply_chain_in_high-tech_markets_102494.htmlhttps://]more here[/url]