Overview

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the upsides and downsides of international trade in medical goods and services. Open trade can increase global access to medical services and goods (and to the critical inputs needed to manufacture them), improve quality, and reduce costs. Better global access to medical goods and services, in turn, contributes to global health security, which the World Health Organization (WHO) defines as “the activities required, both proactive and reactive, to minimize the danger and impact of acute public health events that endanger people’s health across geographical regions and international boundaries.” But excessive concentration of production, restrictive trade policies, supply chain disruptions, and regulatory divergence can jeopardize the ability of public health systems to prepare for and respond to pandemics and other health crises—for instance, by limiting universal access to essential goods and services.