Trump administration pushes plan to cut US reliance on China, India for drug supply

• Health officials say new technology, tax incentives could help end America’s reliance on overseas pharmaceutical ingredients

ISTANBUL

The Trump administration is stepping up efforts to restore domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing, warning that the US reliance on China and India for critical drug ingredients poses a national security risk.

“Restoring capacity for domestic production of essential pharmaceutical products is essential to safeguarding national health and security against global supply chain disruptions,” the White House said in a statement last month, after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to refill the Strategic Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Reserve.

Health and Human Services Deputy Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response John Knox told the TV program Just the News, No Noise on Friday that about 70% of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) come from China and India, and roughly 90% of antibiotics are produced in China.

“We don’t have slave labor here and competing at those levels with huge bulk factories, … we don’t have the capacity or the ability to do that,” Knox said.

“So we have to look at new and innovative ways … to make things simpler and faster.” He cited 3D-printed medications and bypassing traditional starting materials as examples of next-generation solutions.

Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks said on the same program that US regulators must also address market consolidation.

“We have to make sure that the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) does its job, and when there’s too much vertical integration, it ends competition,” she said, calling for the scrutiny of pharmacy benefit managers and other “opaque middlemen” in the supply chain.

The administration says new tax incentives included in what Trump called “one big beautiful bill” are designed to jump-start the domestic API production