The United States is in danger of becoming dependent on China for essential nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) gloves, prompting Blue Star NBR CEO Scott Maier to call on President Donald Trump to help give the critical industry a fighting chance to continue American production.
Speaking with Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle, Maier sounded the alarm on how domestically-made synthetic rubber gloves — which are necessary Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in the pharmaceutical, manufacturing, food processing, and defense industries — could soon collapse without help from the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
“We’ve been dealing with some folks in the Eisenhower Executive building for over a year now, trying to get this industry kind of back on track,” Maier explained on the Breitbart News Saturday radio show. “The reshoring efforts started under Trump because he saw the need during the pandemic that we weren’t making any of these critical items here, and started the whole process to reshore it. Then it took a pause under Biden.”
The CEO said his company, which has a 100 percent Continental United States (CONUS) supply chain, just got word from the administration that aiding in the company’s reindustrialization is “no longer a priority.”
“It seemed when Trump II came in, they were kind of gung-ho to get it going again, and then we just got word that [it is] no longer a priority,” Maier told Boyle, noting that the move “seems odd” given that other agencies in the administration, including the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC), the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) “have specific tariff reviews” and are considering higher Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reimbursements for domestically-made PPE.
Since Blue Star NBR started construction on a plant to employ nearly 2,500 Americans in Wytheville, Virginia in 2022, it has since faced “funding-related delays,” Virginia Business reported.
“Blue Star anticipated securing a federal loan package from the U.S. International Development Finance Corp. (DFC), an agency that President Donald Trump authorized in 2020 to use funds for two years to support domestic companies producing resources needed during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the outlet explained.
However, the Biden administration “lagged” in supporting the project, Maier explained in a November appearance on Breitbart News Saturday.
Maier announced the troubling update in a Friday X post, saying his “reindustrialization journey is coming to an end.”
“Got official word today that the [U.S. government] does not see the need to support a domestic nitrile glove industry,” the CEO wrote. “This seems odd given that we’ll most likely see glove shortages in the next 60 days, but I’ve learned that little makes sense when dealing with the USG.”
As Maier previously explained, China could “shut down” the American healthcare system in mere weeks if the U.S. does not ramp up its manufacturing of NBR gloves. The U.S. produces about 1.5 billion units annually, just about one percent of what the country uses.
The Strategic National Stockpile (SNS), the government’s supply of pharmaceuticals and medical products, only has about four billion gloves in stock — which Maier previously said is approximately a 10-day supply.
Just about 30 percent of NBR gloves used in the country are in the medical field, with the product also serving a critical purpose in rare earth refineries, semiconductor factories, and all across the food supply chain.
Malaysia used to be the world’s biggest supplier, but Maier said in November that China overtook the country as the top producer of NBR gloves since 2021.
“We’ll be fulfilling our current contract obligations through July,” the CEO continued in his post. “Most likely our facility will be dismantled and the equipment shipped off to overseas buyers in August.”
With China controlling the vast majority of the raw material needed for NBR gloves and now struggling to get it because the Strait of Hormuz is closed due to the war with Iran, the world is now “probably 60 to 90 days from having glove shortages again,” Maier said.
“Malaysia just put out a warning flag to their own government, saying, ‘We are going to have to shut down our own production because we cannot get raw materials,’” Maier explained. “China is not sending NBR, because China can’t get the raw materials.”
Malaysian stock market tracker KLSE Screener reported last week that the Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association (MARGMA) “urged the government to introduce temporary relief measures to address a severe shortage” of NBR, triggered by the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Japan is also trying to get in front of the issue, with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi appointing her trade minister, Ryosei Akazawa, as the “Minister in Charge of Securing Stable Supply of Critical Materials in Connection with the Middle East Situation” in order to secure critical materials, including the precursor ingredients for medical gloves.
“While supply of these products will not immediately be disrupted, we will urgently pursue responses such as procuring alternative products from around the world,” Takaichi wrote in a Monday X post:
Blue Star NBR “got a lifeline from the new Trump administration last July, and now they’re basically going to let our lifeline run out,” Maier continued on Saturday. “And unfortunately, I’m out of resources to keep this thing going.”
In a plea to President Trump, he argued that he should wield his power to keep the “big, beautiful factory that was paid for, and started by him,” from having to be “dismantled and most likely sold to China.”
“My message to the president would be, please help us finish what you started and have the vision to bring back this critical manufacturing,” the CEO continued, noting that the factory effort is already 80 to 85 percent done.
Blue Star NBR facility aerial – courtesy of Blue Star NBR
Blue Star NBR facility aerial – courtesy of Blue Star NBR
Blue Star NBR facility interior – courtesy of Blue Star NBR
Being “almost at the finish line” and having to “throw it all away is just sad,” Maier added. “And I don’t think the president wants to have that happen either.”
“China can shut down our actual manufacturing if they weaponize gloves just like they did rare earth,” he warned.
Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.
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