American companies that produce essential goods in China should plan to shift their operations back to the United States or other Western countries, according to a senior Republican lawmaker.
“We're staring into a significant, significant crisis of supply chain,” Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner told the Washington Examiner. “Cheap labor or cheap manufacturing be damned if you are reliant on them for your life and livelihood.”
Gardner’s warning was spurred by the shortage of hospital masks in the United States, a dearth driven by Beijing’s refusal to allow American companies that make the products in China to ship them out of the country amid the coronavirus pandemic. And he’s not alone in that sentiment, raising the possibility that anger over China’s self-interested response to the coronavirus outbreak could produce one of the most dramatic alterations of global economics in decades.
“Because of the coronavirus problem, people are recognizing that any supply chain that has single points of failure is incredibly vulnerable,” the Heritage Foundation’s Dean Cheng, a senior research fellow in the organization’s Asian Studies Center, told the Washington Examiner. “China is going to be very concerned about decoupling, offshoring, [or any] redirection of investments out of China.”
Chinese officials already have warned against such a shift, in response to White House officials who share Gardner’s views. “Such an attempt is by no means the right prescription amid the pandemic, still less a viable way out for domestic problems the U.S. faces,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said last week. “It will only cause greater damage to the innocent American people.”
Some Western allies share that view. “If there is political rhetoric also pushing that trend then there is a danger, a real one, that in the medium to long-term, if this gets promoted, we will be a much less efficient world economy, which means that our own domestic economies would also be much weaker, and GDP will be lower,” European Union Ambassador to the United States Stavros Lambrinidis told reporters last week.
The Colorado Republican dismissed that warning. “If you want to make Matchbox cars in hot wheels around the globe, fine, do it, I don't think anybody cares where the 1986 Matchbox Maserati is coming from,” he said.
“If you're making life-sustaining drugs solely reliant on a Chinese supply chain that could be disrupted by a corona-type virus that we have now seen several times this decade, you better think twice,” said Gardner, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee for East Asia. “I don't think that's decoupling, I think that's smart.”
That suspicion of China reflects the degree to which the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the tensions between the world’s two largest economies. American officials are angry that Chinese Communist officials censored the early warnings that a new virus had emerged in Wuhan. In response, fuming Chinese diplomats have accused the U.S. Army of starting the pandemic while reminding the West that China controls key parts of the medical supply chain.
“There could be nothing more ham-handed and catastrophic than for the Chinese to talk some more about 'how the U.S. created coronavirus, and, by the way, maybe we'll cut off pharmaceuticals,’” Cheng said. “You want to have a situation where there really is that kind of a backlash, where the U.S. actively tries to not only decouple but move specifically away from China? That's inviting that kind of a backlash.”
Gardner has seen enough. "We have Brazil, we have other countries around the globe where we can establish new supply chains that are much more amenable to the Western values that we share,” he told the Washington Examiner.
US Lawmakers Call for Full
Investigation Into China’s Pandemic Coverup
March 25, 2020 Updated: March 25, 2020
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Rep. Elise Stefanik
(R-N.Y.) are calling for an international probe into how Beijing’s initial
handling of the ongoing virus outbreak may have endangered the United States
and the rest of the world.
In a
resolution introduced in both chambers on March 24, the lawmakers asked
Congress to condemn the Chinese regime for its coverup of the outbreak, which
“almost certainly” heightened the CCP virus’s rapid global spread, they
said.
Congress
should also quantify the damage of such acts on the health and economic being
of afflicted nations, the resolution stated.
CCP VIRUS SPECIAL COVERAGE
The Epoch
Times uses “CCP virus” to
refer to the pathogen commonly known as novel coronavirus, because the Chinese
Communist Party’s coverup and mismanagement allowed the virus to spread
throughout China and create a global pandemic.
One of three
legislative proposals introduced that day to take aim at the Beijing regime,
the resolution also calls on the international community to design a mechanism
for the CCP to deliver compensation accordingly.
“It is time
for an international investigation into the role their coverup played in the
spread of this devastating pandemic,” Hawley said in a joint press release with Stefanik. “The CCP must be held to account for what the world
is now suffering.”
Media reports
have detailed how Chinese authorities censored critical information when the
virus first emerged in the city of Wuhan, located in Hubei province.
On Jan. 1,
Hubei health authorities ordered a
genomics testing company to stop virus testing, destroy all virus samples, and
to keep their findings a secret, according to an expose by Chinese media
Caixin.
Police tracked
down multiple doctors who voiced concerns about the virus on social media,
accusing them of spreading rumors and inciting public fear. Critics of Chinese
authorities’ outbreak response were summoned and
punished, and several outspoken citizen journalists disappeared after they tried to share firsthand videos from Wuhan.
On Jan. 13,
Thailand confirmed the first infection outside of China, a day before the World
Health Organization, citing Chinese investigations, announced that
there was “no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission.”
A University
of Southampton study,
currently in preprint and not yet peer-reviewed, found that China could have
stopped up to 95 percent of the virus’s geographical spread had it enacted
containment measures earlier.
“There is no
doubt that China’s unconscionable decision to orchestrate an elaborate coverup of
the wide-ranging and deadly implications of coronavirus led to the death of
thousands of people, including hundreds of Americans and climbing,” Stefanik
said.
The resolution
also took note of how senior Chinese officials have tried to push the conspiracy theory that the virus originated in the United States.
“Since day
one, the Chinese Communist Party intentionally lied to the world about the
origin of this pandemic,” Hawley said.
On the same
day, Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.)
and Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) also introduced a bipartisan resolution to condemn the CCP for the outbreak coverup and disinformation.
Rep. Matt
Gaetz (R-Fla.), meanwhile, introduced a bill called “No Chinese Handouts in National Assistance Act” to prevent
any virus-related relief funds from flowing into China.
“Allowing
American taxpayers’ money to go to companies owned by the Communist Chinese
government is antithetical to our ‘America First’ agenda,” he said in a
statement.
Rep. Michael
McCaul (R-Texas) on Tuesday called the CCP’s handling of the outbreak “one of
the worst coverups in human history.”
“This is a
systematic whitewash of what the Communist Party has done in China,” he told
Fox News. He added that the virus “is now wreaking havoc all across the world,
costing not only the lives of people but economic chaos.”
For “the harm,
loss, and destruction their arrogance brought upon the rest of the world,”
Stefanik said, China will need to pay.
“Simply
put—China must, and will, be held accountable,” she said.
Josh
Hawley: Legislation ‘Necessary’ to Address Chinese Monopoly of U.S. Drug, Medical
Supplies
AFP/Getty Images
24 Feb 20201,067
2:59
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) wrote a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) Monday, contending that it is “inexcusable” that America
relies on China for its medical supply chain. Hawley called hearings and
legislation to determine how to address America’s reliance on Chinese for
producing vital medicine.
The Missouri conservative wrote a
letter to U.S. FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn after reports revealed that the
coronavirus has jeopardized the “domestic supply of some 150 prescription
drugs, including antibiotics, generics, and branded drugs.”
Hawley said that the time is coming for Congress to have
oversight and consider legislation to address the insecurity of America’s
medical supply chain.
The degree to which some of our own manufacturers rely on China
to produce life-saving and life-sustaining medications is inexcusable. It is
becoming clear to me that both oversight hearings and additional legislation
are necessary to determine the extent of our reliance on Chinese production and
protect our medical product supply chain.
Reports have revealed the extent to
which China produces and exports the overwhelming majority of pharmaceuticals
to the United States. China exports 97 percent of all antibiotics and 80
percent of active ingredients used to make drugs in Americans.
Another report stated that America
is losing its ability to make pharmaceuticals because of Chinese dumping of
low-price products into the global market.
I would have our federal government invest in helping to rebuild
our industrial base using advanced manufacturing technology that can produce
our medicines much more cheaply, safely, with less environmental footprint, and
fully, from soup to nuts from those core raw materials to finished drug in one
location all here in the United States.
There will be opponents who say, ‘No, we should let the market
do it.’ The market will never do this. They’ll never make this investment. So
we have to decide as a country, do we want to have some degree of
self-sufficiency in our ability to make medicine? Do we want our military not
to be dependent on China for pharmaceuticals to treat chemical and biological
agents?
Gibson added, “We’ll be depending on China to help us out when
we run out of medicines. The absurdity of it is extraordinary. We have to
decide as a country, do we want to have some capacity to make our own
medicines, or not?”
Sean Moran is a congressional
reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
Josh
Hawley Introduces Legislation to Expose Chinese Monopoly of U.S. Drug, Medical
Supplies
Samuel Corum/Getty Images
27 Feb 202084
4:34
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced
the Medical Supply Chain Security Act on Thursday to combat potential American
drug shortages created in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak in China and to
reveal America’s reliance on Chinese manufacturing of pharmaceuticals and
medical devices.
Sen. Hawley said in a statement that
the legislation would provide the country with the information necessary to
secure the medical supply chain. He explained:
The coronavirus outbreak in China
has highlighted severe and longstanding weaknesses in our medical supply chain.
This is more than unfortunate; it’s a danger to public health. Our health
officials need to know the extent of our reliance on Chinese production so they
can take all necessary action to protect Americans. This legislation will give
us the information we need to better secure our supply chain and ensure that
Americans have uninterrupted access to life-saving drugs and medical devices.
The spread of the coronavirus
throughout China has exposed the deep vulnerabilities in the U.S. medical
supply chain as well as the country’s dependence upon China producing
pharmaceuticals and medical devices.
Axios reported that the
coronavirus outbreak has jeopardized the American supply of roughly 150
pharmaceuticals, including antibiotics, generics, and brand-name drugs. Some of
these drugs do not have alternatives on the market.
China exports 97 percent of all
antibiotics and 80 percent of active ingredients used to make drugs in America.
America is losing its ability to make pharmaceuticals because
of Chinese dumping of low-price products into the global market.
Public health officials at the Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) currently have limited resources for assessing
supply chain vulnerabilities. The FDA recently asked Congress for more
statutory authority to require that manufacturers notify the agency when they
discover circumstances that may lead to shortages in essential medical devices.
Giving the FDA more authority would allow the agency to ensure that they can
take the necessary steps to mitigate potential shortages of life-saving drugs
and medical devices.
Hawley’s legislation would:
- Require that manufacturers report
imminent or forecasted shortages of medical devices to the FDA as they
currently do for pharmaceutical drugs.
- Allow the FDA to expedite the review of
essential medical devices that require pre-market approval in the event of
expected shortages reported by a manufacturer.
- Grant the FDA additional authority to
request additional information from manufacturers of essential drugs or
devices regarding their manufacturing capacity, including sourcing of
component parts, sourcing of active pharmaceutical ingredients, use of raw
materials, and any other details the FDA might find relevant to assess the
security of the American medical supply chain.
Hawley’s legislation follows as the
Missouri populist wrote a letter this week to FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn,
asking Hahn what actions he and the agency can take to ensure that American
citizens do not face shortages of life-saving drugs and medical drugs.
The Missouri senator said Tuesday
that the coronavirus outbreak has proved that America needs to “stop relying on
China for our critical medical supply chains.”
I would have our federal government
invest in helping to rebuild our industrial base using advanced manufacturing
technology that can produce our medicines much more cheaply, safely, with less
environmental footprint, and fully, from soup to nuts from those core raw
materials to finished drug in one location all here in the United States.
Hawley also said Tuesday that the
Donald Trump administration should consider additional travel restrictions to
combat the spread of the coronavirus throughout the United States.
“This is a no-brainer. It’s not just
China any longer. With the rise of cases in Europe & Asia, we need to take
additional steps to protect Americans,” Hawley tweeted.
Sean Moran is a congressional
reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.