President Donald Trump said he signed an executive order Thursday requiring the federal government to buy “essential” drugs from U.S. companies.
“We cannot rely on China and other nations across the globe that could one day deny us products,” Trump said Thursday from the Whirlpool Corporation Manufacturing Plant in Clyde, Ohio. “As we’ve seen in this pandemic, the U.S. must produce essential equipment supplies and pharmaceuticals for ourselves.”
White House trade advisor Peter Navarro said earlier in the day that Trump was expected to sign the order, called “buy American,” during his trip to Ohio.
Using a racially charged description of the virus, Navarro said: “If we’ve learned anything from the ‘China virus’ pandemic, it is that we are dangerously overdependent on foreign nations for our essential medicines, for medical supplies like masks, gloves, goggles and medical equipment like ventilators.”
The order will require the government to develop a list of essential medicines and buy them as well as medical supplies from U.S. companies instead of from foreign countries like China, Navarro said. The World Health Organization already has a list of essential medicines, but the U.S. won’t need some of those drugs because of “where we are located,” he said.
