Publications: Meghan Ostertag

The FDA is considering allowing seven unapproved peptides—substantially sourced through a Chinese gray market—to be used by U.S. compounding pharmacies, despite its own scientists warning against it. Approving them would legitimize unvetted foreign suppliers and undermine evidence-based drug regulation.

German exports to China as a share of GDP have declined by more than 40 percent since 2021, while the German labor force has seen a decline of more than 400,000 jobs linked to exports to China.

China has utilized numerous illegitimate tools in pursuit of global leadership in biopharmaceutical manufacturing, including IP theft, forced labor, and stealing genetic information. This must be met with a swift and forceful response from U.S. policymakers.

The digital economy includes firms and individuals that sell digital services or products, operate physical infrastructure foundational to the digital economy, or manufacture hardware or software that supports digital infrastructure. It was valued at $4.9 trillion in 2024, and it supported 28.4 million jobs.

New U.S. foreign direct investment rose nearly 50 percent in 2025 after three years of decline. Policymakers should build on this momentum by prioritizing policies that attract more greenfield investment and strengthen American competitiveness.

OMB’s proposed rule to increase the productivity and success of the U.S. scientific research establishment is commendable. But the rule in its totality would introduce dangerous and counterproductive revisions to the Uniform Guidance that would drastically reshape the American scientific enterprise for the worse and impose severe and long-lasting economic damage.

Brazil has become a hotbed for Chinese investment, with more than $6 billion in incoming Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2025, accounting for over 10 percent of China’s total FDI that year.

In a survey of 1,000 U.S. researchers supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), 13 percent said that their labs had lost researchers to other countries as a result of NIH funding changes, while 14 percent reported that immigration policies forced scientists, students, and postdocs to turn down offers to work in NIH-supported labs.

China has become an increasingly capable competitor in the global biopharmaceutical industry. To remain competitive, the United States should double down on policies to ensure that it offers the world’s leading environment to support private sector life sciences innovation.

The Trump administration has imposed tariffs on semiconductor imports on national security grounds under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act. These tariffs would raise ICT prices and thereby lower ICT consumption and capital stocks, which would reduce economic growth and lower Americans’ living standards.