| While the volume of goods coming into U.S. ports has declined since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, inbound shipments of medical supplies are up. Way up. Imported goods fell 12% in the last six months, Thomas Overacker, executive director of cargo and conveyance security at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, testified on Tuesday before the Senate Finance Committee. But medical supply imports rose 227% in April, he said. Those supplies are coming from all over the world, particularly masks from China and gloves from Malaysia. CBP has cleared more than 400 flights from 17 countries to facilitate the delivery of 1.3 billion pieces of personal protective equipment, Overacker said.  An EVA Airways jet delivering PPE from Taipei is one of hundreds that have brought supplies to the U.S. Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg The agency has also been knee-deep in frauds. As of the end of June, CBP had seized more than 10 million counterfeit masks, 120,000 unlawful test kits, 24,000 prohibited hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine tablets and 4,000 unsafe antibiotics, Overacker said. Given all the countries involved and the risk for unsafe products evading CBP, senators on the Finance Committee, particularly Republicans, used the hearing to discuss ways to encourage medical-supply manufacturing in the U.S. rather than relying on China and others. "At this point, I think it's fair to say that China has serious quality control problems," Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said. The Trump administration, led by trade adviser Peter Navarro, has had trouble getting traction on a draft executive order that would require federal agencies to buy medical equipment and pharmaceuticals that are made in the U.S. But in a somewhat less showy fashion, the administration has been pumping hundreds of millions into contracts and loans to help companies produce more drugs and their key ingredients in the U.S. Senator Rob Portman said the same needs to be done for personal protective equipment. Is a carrot and not a stick the way forward? Soraya Correa, chief procurement officer for the Department of Homeland Security, thinks so. "They're going to be willing to invest as long as they know there is a long-term need," Correa said. "Industries will turn. Companies will form, and large companies will partner with small companies."—Anna Edney | 
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