Ensuring Pharmaceutical Resilience: President Donald J. Trump Strengthens American Medicine Supply Chain by Storing Critical Drug Ingredients in Strategic Reserves
In a bid to secure American pharmaceutical independence and ensure access to affordable, domestically produced drugs, President Trump took several significant actions throughout his presidency.
In 2020, President Trump directed his Administration to identify supply chain vulnerabilities, with a particular focus on Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), the biologically active components in medicines. The low domestic production of APIs (about 10% by volume) made the U.S. vulnerable to foreign supply disruptions, a crucial weakness that needed addressing.
To address this vulnerability, President Trump signed an Executive Order aiming to enhance pharmaceutical supply chain resilience. The Order mandated the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), specifically the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), to build and maintain a Strategic Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Reserve (SAPIR). This reserve was intended to hold a six-month supply of APIs for about 26 critical drugs and 86 essential medicines, with preference for domestic sourcing.
The Order also aimed to increase domestic procurement of Essential Medicines, Medical Countermeasures, and Critical Inputs. The primary goal was to restore capacity for domestic production of essential pharmaceutical products to safeguard national health and security against global supply chain disruptions.
In May 2025, President Trump signed another Executive Order implementing most-favored-nation drug pricing. This Order was aimed at lowering the prices Americans pay for prescription drugs. Additionally, President Trump signed an Executive Order to fill the SAPIR with critical drug components and instructed the ASPR to update the 2022 list of 86 essential medicines and propose a plan to obtain and store a 6-month API supply for these drugs.
To further facilitate the restoration of a robust domestic manufacturing base for prescription drugs, President Trump signed an Executive Order in May 2025 to remove regulatory barriers. ASPR was also directed to develop a list of approximately 26 critical drugs vital to national health and security and obtain a 6-month supply of APIs for these drugs, with a preference for domestically-manufactured APIs.
President Trump also sent letters to 17 pharmaceutical companies in an effort to encourage competitive pricing and domestic production. The Executive Order signed by President Trump in May 2025, which wasn't addressed in the provided paragraphs, may have contained additional measures to further these initiatives.
In summary, President Trump's policy focus was on enhancing supply chain resilience, reducing dependency on foreign pharmaceutical ingredients, and safeguarding the availability of essential medicines for the American population and national security needs. These initiatives aimed to restore and ensure a resilient domestic production capacity for critical drugs amid global supply chain disruptions.
[1] White House. (2020, May 15). Executive Order on Ensuring a Sustainable American Pharmaceutical Industry. [online] Available at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-ensuring-sustainable-american-pharmaceutical-industry/
[2] White House. (2020, May 15). Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Takes Action to Ensure a Sustainable American Pharmaceutical Industry. [online] Available at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-takes-action-ensure-sustainable-american-pharmaceutical-industry/
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