The more than two dozen House Democrats said in the letter that the president’s tariffs will only “backfire” on those who rely on certain medical products.
Democrats are continuing to sound the alarm about President Donald Trump’s retaliatory global tariffs, warning Trump administration officials that they will severely impact the medical supply chain industry and potentially cost lives.
In a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, 26 Democrats in the House of Representatives said the tariffs, which have already sparked a trade war with ally and adversary countries alike, are “reckless” and will have “devastating consequences” for Americans who rely on medical supply, including drugs and other products.
“The supply disruptions of critical medical products will unavoidably hurt U.S. patients, force providers to make impossible rationing decisions, and potentially even result in death as treatments are delayed, or more effective medicines and products are swapped for less effective alternatives,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter, according to The Hill.
The letter was drafted and delivered before Trump said on Tuesday night that he would soon announce additional tariffs on pharmaceuticals. He told Republicans at a National Republican Congressional Campaign fundraising dinner, “Once we do that, they’re going to come rushing back into our country because we’re the big market,” referring to pharmaceutical companies.
The more than two dozen Democrats said in the letter that Trump’s tariffs will only “backfire” on those who rely on certain medical products. They urged Greer and Secretary Lutnick to consider tariff exemptions or product waivers on “active pharmaceutical ingredients, generic drugs, essential medicines and critical medical supplies,” reports The Hill.
U.S. Rep. Alma Adams, D-N.C., told theGrio that she is concerned that President Trump’s tariffs will have an outsized impact on Black, brown, and other vulnerable populations.
“For those of us who don’t have the same kind of income and the resources…it’s going to impact us greatly,” said the longtime congresswoman.
“The president says, ‘Oh, short-term pain.” Well, listen, we need some short-term success right now. We need some short-term relief. We can’t wait a year or two down the road. Our farmers are going to suffer. Our communities are going to suffer.”
!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(“has-featured-video”,”true”)})}();
