Trade Therapy: Deepening Cooperation to Strengthen Pandemic Defenses

The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic has exposed the upsides and downsides of

international trade in medical goods and services. Open trade can increase access to

medical services and goods-and the critical inputs needed to manufacture them-improve

quality and variety, and reduce costs. However, excessive concentration of production,

restrictive trade policies, supply chain disruptions, and regulatory divergence can jeopardize

the ability of public health systems to respond to pandemics and other...