Momentum grows to change medical supply chain from China
Calls are growing for the U.S. to reduce its dependence on China for key medicines and supplies as Americans face widespread shortages in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
While the U.S. supply chain's heavy reliance on China for medical manufacturing has been glaringly apparent for roughly two decades, both lawmakers and administration officials say the virus has exposed just how vulnerable the country is as it leans on Beijing and other nations to help provide the tools necessary to combat the pathogen.
Peter Navarro,
President Trump’s economic adviser, pledged this week that the United States would move away from its reliance on other nations and towards building up its own capabilities to produce drugs and medical supplies.
The concern is bipartisan. Three Senate Democrats backed legislation put forward by Sen.
Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) last month that advocates for the U.S.
to reprioritize its productive capability in order to achieve less supply-chain dependence on China, particularly as it relates to products used in the federal health care system.
Their concerns followed the 2019 annual report from the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, which warned Congress that U.S. consumers, including the military, are “heavily dependent” on China for drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), arguing that this “presents economic and national security risks.”
Altogether, the U.S. imported more than $12.7 billion worth of pharmaceuticals and antibiotics, medical devices and food products from China in 2018, according to Rubio, who wrote a February op-ed warning about the U.S. reliance on China. He noted that these numbers do not reflect APIs. China is believed to supply roughly 80 percent of APIs to the U.S.
Momentum grows to change medical supply chain from China