Lack of American drug production is due to American policy

When China was an impoverished country trying to make its own way in a world that didn't recognize it, American nationalists and neo-conservatives accused China of being unresponsible and unconcerned about the world order. Now that China is sending medical supplies and experts abroad, China is accused of trying to cause other countries to be "dependent."

Surely, if China were to put restrictions on the exports of masks and gloves, similar to those restrictions the US placed on exports in April, China would also be attacked!

It's a double bind. The reality is that China hawks want to bash China no matter what. They'll look for justification later.

Not to say that China's government does everything right. However, if China hawks nitpick every single thing China does under all circumstances, they will lose credibility (and are, indeed, already losing credibility). On the list of things for which it could be legitimately criticized, producing and selling masks, antibiotics, and drugs worldwide is not there.

Yet, there have been articles published in the Washington Post, Washington Times, Washington Examiner, National Review, Politico, and The Hill about the fact that Chinese factories produce so much of the world's supply of antibiotics and generic drugs. Washington political professionals think this is a problem, and they want ordinary Americans to think so, too.

The fact of the matter is that the United States is actually the third-leadingcountry for pharmaceutical exports. But those are mostly expensive brand name drugs under patent protection. The US doesn't produce everyday antibiotics and generic drugs. And that's because they aren't considered profitable enough for American companies.

It's not China's fault that American companies stopped producing antibiotics with low profit margins. The US used to have thousands of companies doing so in the 1980s, but most of them had ceased production by the start of the new century.

American drug policy gives heavy subsidies to the creation of new drugs and allows companies to price gouge the poor ailing consumer. Lawmakers refuse to change policy largely because their election campaigns are funded by the pharmaceutical giants.

The problem is not that China produces so many much-needed drugs. The cause of the purported problem is that the United States does not. According to a 2015 article in National Geographic, "[antibiotics] are sold for relatively low prices, compared for instance to cancer drugs … not making antibiotics is a rational choice for a private company that answers to the demands of shareholders and analysts, even if that choice deprives the wider world of a wider good."

The problem is an economic and political system that prioritizes corporate profit. That's also why it is hard for the US to produce enough chemical reactants to use with coronavirus tests.

Now, it shouldn't be a huge problem if America can get its antibiotics from China, which we do, along with ibuprofen and hydrocortisone. It's how commerce works for people to buy and sell across borders. And China continues to sell drugs to America and to the world.

But these China hawks also have the fear that someday China might cut off its drug supply. It's a fear that, so far, exists more in the minds of lawmakers than in actual practice.

Same with medical supplies. It's not China who is refusing to provide other countries with masks. One of the main reasons that Italy is "depending" on China is because EU countries did nothing. When Italy put out a notice to the EU commission asking for provisions, none of its European neighbors responded.

Elisabeth Braw of the Royal United Services Institute wrote in Foreign Policy that the EU "abandoned" Italy. China, by contrast, put nine experts and 31 tons of supplies onto a jet for immediate delivery to Italy.

However, while the fear of a cut-off might be exaggerated, it is still a country's solemn responsibility to prepare itself for any potential risk. So, it is not a completely wrongheaded idea for the US to consider producing more drugs domestically.

There is precedent for countries enacting export bans and import bans either to put political pressure on their adversaries or to protect national stock. As previously noted, the US did place export bans on N95 face masks, and France maintains an export ban on COVID-19 drugs, ignoring an EU insistence that this be rescinded.

It is extremely hypocritical for the US to cite the hypothetical threat of China potentially using its trade policy as a weapon against America, when the US has been using trade policy as a weapon against China for the past two years, which was the explicit goal of the Trump administration raising tariffs on China.

The New York Times wrote that the administration "attempted to force China to change the way it does business." White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow said, "We're not going to give up our leverage."

Perhaps some of those American op-ed writers who write warnings that China would use drugs as a weapon are just projecting their own thinking.