As Wuhan virus continues to spread around the world and in the United States, Americans are waking up to a grim reality: China controls our pharmaceutical supply chain.
Many Republicans and President Trump have been concerned about this issue for years and now, they're sounding the alarm for change.
At yesterday’s lunch I asked @POTUS to support our efforts to invest in diversifying our supply chain, especially in pharmaceuticals & medical equipment.
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) March 11, 2020
He agreed & his team led by by Peter Navarro are also working on an EO to help address this. https://t.co/WlX7u158rV
Bringing our pharmaceutical supply chain back to the U.S. ensures we are not vulnerable to disruptions by other countries. I will continue to work with my colleagues to make this a reality. https://t.co/QtEk2lxDL6
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) March 10, 2020
Sen. Hawley's new legislation – the Medical Supply Chain Security Act — will help ensure the US is not in a situation where we are dependent on China for our drugs or antibiotics. pic.twitter.com/hzclZUX7um
— Senator Hawley Press Office (@SenHawleyPress) March 9, 2020
As mentioned by Senator Rubio, President Trump plans to sign an executive order in the coming days to jumpstart the process of reclaiming American pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Earlier this week the Chinese Communist Party threatened to withhold pharmaceutical products and ingredients from the United States. In other words, they threatened to kill Americans.
In an article in Xinhua, one of the Chinese Communist Party’s mouthpieces, Beijing threatened that it can impose pharmaceutical export controls after which America will be “plunged into the mighty sea of coronavirus.”
Unfortunately, Beijing isn’t bluffing about this capability.
As Rosemary Gibson, co-author of “China Rx: Exposing the Risks of America’s Dependence on China for Medicine,” testified to a congressional commission last summer, China has a dominant role in the manufacture of the generic drugs that comprise 90 percent of what Americans take.
The critical vulnerability isn’t just in finished drugs, but what are called active pharmaceutical ingredients, some 80 percent of which America now imports. Most of these come from Red China.