Lighthizer Says Fewer Medical Supplies, Drugs Should Be Imported in Future
Although the trade ministers of the G-20 agreed that nationalist approaches to medical supplies should be temporary, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told other countries' trade ministers that things will need to be different after the crisis passes, as well. “Unfortunately, like others, we are learning in this crisis that over-dependence on other countries as a source of cheap medical products and supplies has created a strategic vulnerability to our economy. For the United States, we are encouraging diversification of supply chains and seeking to promote more manufacturing at home,” he said March 30.
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Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, in a phone call with reporters March 31, said that even if the U.S. has “very cordial relations with China” in the future, a pure free trade approach on pharmaceutical drugs isn't how things should be in the future. “I think this pandemic has pointed out [that] the United States is foolhardy if we want to have 80% of our pharmaceutical, either the finished product or the ingredients, from one country. That’s a lesson learned from this pandemic.”