Thursday, April 29, 2021
The Biden Administration has taken (at least temporarily) the teeth out of a Trump-era Executive Order that directed the government to “Buy American” for essential drugs and medical devices. President Trump’s August 2020 Executive Order on Ensuring Essential Medicines, Medical Countermeasures, and Critical Inputs Are Made in the United States (Executive Order 13944) aimed to reduce dependence on foreign drugs and devices critical to the U.S. public health sector, in part by requiring that the U.S. Trade Representative remove those essential items from the coverage of any international free trade agreement. On April 20, 2021, the Biden Administration withdrew just such a proposal to remove essential drugs and medical devices from coverage under the World Trade Organization Government Procurement Agreement (“WTO GPA”). With the proposal withdrawn, the U.S. government remains free to buy U.S.-made