Sen. Marco Rubio wants to cut the United States’s dependence on China for medical supplies and bring drug manufacturing back to the country following the coronavirus pandemic.
“I think the fundamental question is, are there certain things that a country should be able to do for itself, especially in a time of conflict or emergency?” Rubio told the Washington Free Beacon. “And the answer is yes.”
The Florida Republican introduced bipartisan legislation in March that would begin to reverse U.S. dependence on foreign nations such as China.
“I think one of the great flaws of the last 20, 30 years is the belief that we have reached the point where countries could be heavily interdependent on one another for things critical to their international security and that somehow that would never be impacted,” Rubio said. “That, in essence, nation-states would not come into play in a time of conflict or in a time of emergency.”
Rubio told the Free Beacon that when the U.S. opened its trade relationship with China in 2000, it was thought that capitalism would change the foreign nation. But that didn’t happen, Rubio argued, and now the U.S. is dependent on the communist country for 95% of ibuprofen, 70% of acetaminophen, and more than 40% of penicillin, in addition to medical devices.
“When the region in China that’s most responsible for pharmaceuticals shuts down because of a pandemic, you’re going to have a supply chain disruption because of pharmaceuticals,” he said. “What about, God forbid, there’s some contingency where China wants to invade Taiwan, and we stand up and defend them, and so they say, ‘Okay, we’ll cut you off’? All of a sudden, they’ve got tremendous leverage on us.”
