Geopolitical conflicts can erupt with little warning, disrupting global trade systems and placing immediate strain on supply chains. Today, all eyes are on the disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz. Tomorrow, it could be issues in the South China Sea or an escalation of the U.S.-China trade war. For supply chains that are already vulnerable to disruptions, such as those for generic medicines, national security risks due to reliance on adversary nations multiply disruption risks. 

A significant portion of U.S. medicines and their ingredients are produced abroad, with countries such as China dominating critical segments of the supply of ingredients essential to making our medicines. Nearly 700 medicines used by Americans, fully one-third of all U.S. medicines, contain at least one key starting material sourced exclusively from China. In simple terms, China knows it could today apply trade-related pressures to cut off KSMs threatening the availability of 1 out of 3 U.S. medicines.