PHARMA: While Corps Contest Trump’s ‘Buy American’ Policy, India Drops A Supply Chain Bombshell

For years, Trump has been calling for American manufacturing to come home. Here’s one more reason why.

Economies around the world are driven by supply and demand. But that dynamic changes when countries are fighting over resources that could be the literal difference between life and death.

That’s what we’re seeing in India right now.

Malaria has long since been a serious and lethal threat in India. Anti-malarial medications have always been of critical importance there. But now we are seeing a possibility of those same anti-malarial medications being the game-changer we need to save the lives of men and women fighting for their lives against Chinese Coronovirus.

Lives here are at stake AND lives in India are at stake. What would you really expect was going to happen when push came to shove?

India, is a major (possibly the largest) producer of Hydroxychloroquine in the world. Today, the country banned exports of the drug.

In related news, India put its 1.3 billion citizens into lockdown today. pic.twitter.com/aDE8DTpltB

— That's Interesting (@innneresting) March 24, 2020

With 1.3 Billion citizens to look out for and a pandemic on the loose, did you really think India was going to prioritize the health of strangers halfway around the world?

Would WE?

So Trump’s belief that there are moral and strategic reasons — not to mention the obvious economic reasons — to retain domestic manufacturing of many products is proven correct.

Compare that news to the following:

One of President Donald Trump’s leading trade advisors slammed Big Pharma’s attempts to lobby against an executive order he is preparing to push companies to relocate medical supply chains to the United States.

When asked about the lobbying group PHRMA’s push against the executive order, Peter Navvaro told CNBC: “This Big Pharma spin is simply a desperate attempt to stop President Donald J. Trump from moving the production of our essential medicines and medical equipment and supplies to the U.S.”

Navarro, known for his hawkish views on China, told CNBC earlier this week he is bringing an executive order to Trump that would aim to reduce the United States’ dependency on foreign manufacturers for medicine. About 72% of pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturers supplying the U.S. are located overseas, including 13% in China, according to October congressional testimony by Janet Woodcock, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. — MSN

What benefit is a cheaply-made product if you cannot bring it to market when lives truly hang in the balance?