The Health Secretary Wes Streeting has warned on Tuesday that the supply of medicines to the UK could be impacted by the US President’s sweeping tariffs.
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Streeting said that Donald Trump’s tariffs is “unprecedented in terms of global trade,” adding there is a “number of factors at play” for medicines and the levies adds another “layer of challenge” to ensure there is supplies to the UK.
He said the “NHS is not for sale and our patient’s data is not for sale” should the US President want a deal with the UK.
The Health Secretary told Sky News, “Until this trade war erupted, we’d already had issues with medicines production and supply internationally.
“We are constantly watching and acting on this situation to try and get medicines into the country, to make sure we’ve got availability, to show some flexibility in terms of how medicines are dispensed, to deal with shortages.
“But whether it’s medicines, whether it’s parts for manufacturing, whether it’s… the ability of businesses in this country to turn a profit, this is an extremely turbulent situation.”
He added, “As ever in terms of medicines, there’s a number of factors at play.
“There have been challenges in terms of manufacturing, challenges in terms of distribution, and if we start to see tariffs kicking in, that’s another layer of challenge, but we watch this situation extremely closely.
“We work on a daily basis to make sure that we have the medicine supply this country needs.”
As part of trade negotiations Streeting told BBC Breakfast that patients’ “data is not for sale.”
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