The Internationalism

Internationalism No. 83, January 2026 Page 13 From the series Industry and pharmaceuticals The Trump administration wielded the sword of tariffs against pharmaceutical companies, with the declared aim of bringing productive activities back to America . The largest multinational life sciences firms responded with investment announcements — estimated to total $400 billion. It is not always clear whether these are entirely new allocations or whether they include capital already committed to earlier expansion plans in the US market. In any case, the expected increase in pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity in the US will take a few years to materialise. The administration nevertheless emphasised the Trump effect . The relocation of production lines to existing or newly built plants relates to some branded drugs protected by patents. Generics, which account for 90% of prescriptions in America, are not affected. Global supply chains ...

From the series Vaccines and world contention There are by now ten authorised vaccines already in use against SARSCoV-2, and there are 77 countries in which vaccinations are taking place. By mid-February, 173 million doses had been administered and the campaign is proceeding at an average rate of six million a day, calculated on the basis of last week’s figures. At this pace, it would take 5 years to vaccinate 75% of the world population with two doses [ Bloomberg , February 15 th ]. More than half of the injections have been carried out in the United States, the UK, and the European Union which, together, account for 11% of the world population. In at least one third of the 77 surveyed countries, less than 1% of the population have received their first dose of the vaccine, and, in the rest of the world, vaccines have not yet arrived. Imperialist globalisation Individual states are pursuing autonomous solutions to a global problem. Epidemiologists believe that, while a vast propo...