Commentary: China holds all the cards in global pharmaceuticals

The urgency of tackling pharmaceutical supplies lies at the heart of the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission’s annual report, published last week. It proposed that Congress immediately amend a 2020 law to expand the authority of the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to require pharmaceutical firms to report on the volume and origin of the building blocks of modern drugs. However, the speed with which the US essentially folded after Beijing expanded export controls on crucial rare earth minerals last month is a sign that this other glaring vulnerability can no longer be brushed aside.