The U.S. biopharmaceutical sector is vulnerable to weaponized Chinese supply chain dominance, Ambassador Jeffrey Gerrish warned during an event with Breitbart News highlighting the threats the communist country poses to U.S. national security.
Gerrish served as Deputy U.S. Trade Representative during President Donald Trump’s first term when the coronavirus pandemic hit, during which time he was lead negotiator for the U.S.-China Economic and Trade Agreement.
Host and Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle noted that Gerrish’s perch as one of Trump’s top negotiators with China provided him an intimate understanding of how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) handled the pandemic. Gerrish said one of his primary takeaways from that experience is what China did in “weaponizing its dominance,” particularly in the PPE sector.
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“That’s what China does. They weaponize their dominance in supply chains,” he said. “And we’ve now seen it, of course, more recently with rare earths and critical minerals as well. But back then, you know what happened was, of course, with this, with the shortage of PPE in this country, and the problems we were having and getting critical medical supplies, you know, what I ended up having to do is negotiate with my counterpart.”
At the time, Gerrish continued, they had just concluded phase one of a trade deal, “and that was one avenue we could pursue to try to negotiate with them to open up, you know, the supply chains here for these products,” he revealed.
While he called those particular negotiations with the Chinese a success, Gerrish described the process with the shrewd Chinese negotiators as “very, very difficult.”
That episode should be a lesson for the U.S. as China emerges in the biopharmaceutical sector, and one primary takeaway is to take the threats seriously, he warned.
“When we talk about their emergence in the biopharmaceutical sector, and the emphasis that they placed on becoming a dominant global player in that industry, I think it creates real risks for us going forward,” Gerrish added.
RX Border Defense board member Raul Lopez said in another panel at the Breitbart event that China’s stranglehold on the American drug supply is an intentional tool of its geopolitical goal of domination. “That’s their philosophy — again, take over the world,” he warned.
Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle speaks with Raul Lopez of RX Border Defense on Thursday, March 26, 2026, during a Breitbart News policy event in Washington, DC, on the threat of China. (Matthew Perdie/Breitbart News)
Lopez, who emigrated from communist Cuba as a child, said that communist countries work to control others through building dependence.
“They come from all different angles. It’s like a Trojan horse. They come in with cheap prices on medicine and all that. But then they exit with a Chinese dragon, basically, and burn up everything in sight,” Lopez concluded.
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