S. 2380 — Quad Economic Security Act

This section expresses the sense of Congress that (1) the United States should strengthen cooperation with the governments of Australia, India, and Japan to address regional challenges and promote a free and open Indo-Pacific; (2) the United States should expand Quad cooperation with those governments to address shared economic security challenges, including by seeking to create an Economic Security Working Group within the Quad; and (3) reviving the Quad by President Trump and elevating it to the leaders’ level by President Biden were critical to advancing shared interests in the Indo-Pacific.

This section defines terms used in the Act, including "(1) appropriate congressional committees" (Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives), "(2) Quad" (partnership among the Quad countries), "(3) Quad countries" (Japan, Australia, India, and the United States), "(4) Secretary" (Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of Commerce), and "(5) Working Group" (Economic Security Working Group described in section 4).

This section directs the Secretary to negotiate with the other Quad countries (i.e., Australia, India, and Japan) to establish an Economic Security Working Group to secure critical supply chains, safeguard critical infrastructure, counter economic coercion, and address supply chain crises. In those negotiations, the Secretary shall seek to ensure the working group (1) serves as a forum for coordinating on critical infrastructure security and supply chain resiliency; (2) holds crisis simulation exercises to prepare for economic coercion and supply chain disruptions; and (3) acts as a collective emergency response mechanism for national security-critical sectors. The United States will be represented by a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State or equivalent, and the Secretary shall encourage the working group to engage regional partners on economic security capacity-building (e.g., port infrastructure and undersea cables).

This section directs the Secretary, upon commencement of negotiations under section 4, to submit to the appropriate congressional committees (1) a report identifying supply chains for sectors critical to national security for purposes of section 4(b)(3), and (2) a report identifying countries and jurisdictions in the Indo-Pacific region considered to be regional partners for purposes of section 4(d).

This section requires the Secretary of State and Secretary of Commerce to jointly submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on efforts to establish the Working Group, not later than one year after negotiations under section 4 commence and annually thereafter until those negotiations conclude (regardless of whether the Working Group is established).