You would think that, after the disastrous period during COVID, there would be more talk about eliminating our reliance on foreign countries to produce the pharmaceuticals people need. But you would be wrong. Nothing substantial has been done in terms of policy to start producing medicines domestically, and it is a glaring weakness in our national defense.
Previous posts have argued the need for the United States to acquire Greenland for national security, but nothing is more critical to national security than the nation’s health or lack of it. The lack of basic medicines produced in the United States could prove to be the nation’s greatest vulnerability.
The majority of people who have lived through COVID have long forgotten when the issue was raised during the pandemic. The reality has not changed from those days; China has a chokehold on the rare materials needed to produce medicine. Further, they hold a monopoly on the pills themselves.
The present state of affairs is that the U.S. imports over 53% of drugs from China. Strikingly, America imports over 92% of its antibiotics and first-aid kits from China. On the surface, it doesn’t seem like a big deal until someone realizes the Pentagon relies on those drugs and bandages in some future conflict with China or one of its allies.
China’s monopoly over generic and other drugs stems from its control over the raw materials needed to produce them. China is the exclusive supplier of a key ingredient used to create over 700 crucial drugs. National security is at risk when a country cannot even produce the basic medicines its population needs.
The United States is not the only free country that depends on China. Half of all generic drugs available in Europe come from China. Over 90% of prescriptions are written for generic medications. China has a factory in Austria, which is the world’s last fully integrated penicillin site anywhere.
It is bad enough that China has a stranglehold on pharmaceuticals; it also has a dominant role in licensing and clinical trials. As early as 2000, India outpaced China in this area, and now they, along with the rest of the world, fall far behind.
The alarming trend stems from the way China has developed its business model. It offered the West a cheap labor force with little or no bureaucratic red tape. Western money flowed into China in pursuit of increased profits, with little or no regard for the country’s security.
We face a position where our country is over a barrel. The drug business is an incredible advantage for China, which could, depending on the circumstances, limit or stop medicine production. New U.S. Companies must enter the competition to produce medicine domestically, and the government should have policies to ensure their success.
Public policy should reflect the potential danger of depending on our adversary to supply our drugs. Unscrupulous companies that are doing business in China for their own benefit should be slapped with tariffs.
A country as powerful as ours cannot be dependent on others to supply what we need to survive. Trade with China is fine, but not when it depends on our national security. We can and should produce our own drugs.