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How One Tariff Exemption Rewrote Global Trade in Medicines
Season 2
Episode 51
Published 3 weeks, 5 days ago
Description
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how the 1996 WTO Information Technology Agreement's pharmaceutical tariff exemption reshaped global drug supply chains. They trace the unintended consequences of zero tariffs on active pharmaceutical ingredients, showing how it concentrated production in India and China, disrupted domestic drug manufacturing in Africa and Latin America, and created fragility exposed during the 2020 pandemic. Using concrete examples like India's API dependence on China and the failed Kenyan tamoxifen plant, they reveal how a trade rule designed to lower costs ended up creating new vulnerabilities. A deep dive into the hidden trade infrastructure behind the pills in your medicine cabinet.