President Trump recently signed an executive order to bring pharmaceutical manufacturing back to the U.S. by streamlining the process for the Food and Drug Administration to approve pharmaceutical manufacturing plants. This is the latest in the Trump administration’s agenda to protect national security and create American jobs by promoting the reshoring of critical supply chains that Americans rely on every day.

These efforts are coupled with international tariffs to encourage domestic manufacturing. Reshoring pharmaceutical manufacturing is not only dire for American national security, but it could have resounding economic impacts across the country.

One U.S. jurisdiction that is ready and in a perfect position to partner in this effort is Puerto Rico, where pharmaceutical manufacturing is already a more than $50 billion industry. With complementary efforts underway in Congress and on the island, the White House should look to Puerto Rico as America’s pharmaceutical powerhouse while not trapping the island in its current territory status by hindering a future transition to statehood that would further boost the island’s manufacturing ability.

As a territory, the island is part of the U.S. customs zone........

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