President Donald Trump of the United States on Monday signed an executive order that aims to reduce the time it takes to approve pharmaceutical plants in the country, as part of new regulations to encourage domestic manufacturing.
The new order instructs the US Food and Drug Administration, FDA, to streamline reviews and work with domestic manufacturers to provide early support before facilities come online.
The order also mandates the health regulator to improve enforcement of active-ingredient source reporting by foreign producers and consider publicly displaying a list of facilities that do not comply.
According to FDA Commissioner, Marty Makary, during the signing of the executive order that the FDA plans to start doing surprise inspections of overseas plants, a move he said would bring the oversight more in line with the United States.
The order also directs the Environmental Protection Agency to speed up the construction of facilities.
The actions are said to be the latest by Trump to shift manufacturing of drugs to the United States.
Trump, in recent months, has repeatedly threatened tariffs on pharmaceutical imports, which have long been spared from trade wars due to potential harms.
In a statement, the White House said that such a long timeline was unacceptable from a national-security standpoint.
“As we invest in the future, we will permanently bring our medical supply chains back home. We will produce our medical supplies, pharmaceuticals, and treatments right here in the United States,”; Trump said in a statement.
The Washington Post first reported on the new executive order.
The Trump administration, last month, launched investigations into imports of pharmaceuticals and semiconductors as it looks to impose tariffs on both sectors on grounds that extensive reliance on foreign production of medicine and chips is a national security threat.
