Quick Hit

Since President Joe Biden took office, China has rapidly increased its share of U.S. imports of nitrile medical gloves, according an exclusive from Breitbart News. This shift has raised concerns about the U.S.'s reliance on China for essential medical supplies.

Key Details

• China's share of U.S. imports of medical gloves increased from 14.2% in 2019 to 44.15% in 2023.
• The U.S. uses approximately 120 billion to 150 billion nitrile gloves a year, many of which are now imported from China.
• A project to build factories in America to manufacture these gloves domestically, initiated under the Trump administration, has been stalled under the Biden administration.

Diving Deeper

During the Trump administration in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. relied on China for about 14.2% of its medical gloves. The majority of the imports, 85.7%, came from other countries such as Malaysia and Thailand. However, this scenario drastically changed when Biden took office. In 2021, China's share of imports of medical gloves to the U.S. increased to 26.8%, and by 2023, it had risen to 44.15%. If this trend continues, the U.S. could be dependent on China for approximately 60% of medical gloves used domestically in 2024.

The U.S. uses an estimated 120 billion to 150 billion nitrile gloves a year, not only in medical settings but also in food processing and semiconductor manufacturing. Data from the USITC shows that as of late 2023, China has become the single-biggest importer of medical-grade nitrile gloves into the U.S., surpassing Malaysia for the first time.

Under the Trump administration, a project was initiated to build factories in America to manufacture these gloves domestically. However, this project has been stalled under the Biden administration. The federal government spent $123 million on the project, which was to be executed by Blue Star NBR. However, due to lack of action and engagement by the Biden administration, the project is being mothballed.

Scott Maier, Blue Star's chief executive, has been briefing members of Congress and their staffs about the Biden administration's failures. He warns that these vulnerabilities could have severe consequences if not addressed soon. "We recognized the supply chain issues before the pandemic that having 99 percent of a critical medical item come from overseas is not a viable model," Maier said. "Leaving ourselves vulnerable that any country or supply chain hiccup can cripple our healthcare system is just absurd."

Early in 2024, the Biden administration announced a waiver for the U.S. government to purchase more than 55 million boxes of pairs of nitrile medical gloves from overseas. The procurement waiver explicitly notes that the United States cannot meet the demand for making these at home, admitting the Biden administration's failure in this regard.