From Boston to Beijing: How Trump 2 Might Forfeit America’s Pharmaceutical Advantage

For more information, please contact AAF Policy Director John Shelton at jshelton@advancingamericanfreedom.com

From Boston to Beijing: How Trump 2 Might Forfeit America’s Pharmaceutical Advantage

TOPLINE: While President Trump’s first term reset the generational narrative on China, his second term is pushing America’s highly successful pharmaceutical industry into the arms of the Chinese Communist Party. Tariffs are Pushing American Pharma Away as China Welcomes Them. • President Trump recently proposed a 250% tariff on pharmaceuticals. • Last year, the US imported $210B in drugs and vaccines, mostly from the EU.

o That’s ~$525 billion in tariff taxes paid by American families. • While President Trump is considering punishing tariffs on America’s pharmaceutical industry, China is actively courting American companies. • China is throwing billions of dollars at American scientists and pharmaceutical companies to perform research and partner with Chinese companies.

o DIG DEEPER: FT: Big Pharma is increasingly reliant on Chinese biotech “Most Favored Nation” is Washington Speak for Socialist Price Controls: • The President’s plan to impose price controls on U.S. drugs based on foreign prices will mean significant reductions in American research and development. • Free market solutions such as direct-to-consumer rather than government intervention, are the way to lower prices.

o MORE: AAF MEMO on Health Reforms Red Tape and Regulation Are Hamstringing American Innovation: • Chinese pharmaceutical companies can recruit humans for clinical trials at a rate 200% to 300% faster than American companies. • China’s clinical trial operations are 30% cheaper than in the U.S. • Setting aside China’s obvious lack of concern for human life, we should be making it easier – not harder for drugs to come to market in the U.S.

Less Regulation—Not Conspiracy Theory-Inspired Policy—is the Future • The federal government and American pharmaceutical companies must partner together to deliver the best cures at the best prices for American families. • It should not take 500,000 pages for the FDA to approve a drug. BOTTOMLINE: America is the birthplace of companies that have saved millions and millions of lives. We should embrace that - not reject it and push these companies into the arms of the Chinese Communist Party.

It is a national security risk for the US to rely on China for drugs as simple as Tylenol and for companies to perform increasingly more research in China, handing over valuable IP and surrendering America's research capabilities.

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