Kodak will no longer only be known for producing cameras and film. The company will soon be involved in the pharmaceutical drug industry.
In a new deal announced Tuesday by White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, Kodak will help bring medical manufacturing back to the U.S. from overseas.
"This is the beginning of American independence from our pharmaceutical dependence on foreign countries," Navarro said on FOX Business' "Mornings with Maria."
"It started with the president months ago telling my office, hey we need to bring those supply chains back," he said. "Then he made a critical and creative decision when he signed an executive order which enabled the Development Finance Corporation ... to figure out ways to finance bringing those supply chains home.”
Under the terms of the deal, Rochester, New York-based Kodak will receive a $765 million loan under the Defense Production Act. The company will then begin manufacturing key starting materials and active pharmaceutical ingredients.
"By the time this thing ramps up, 25% of the [active pharmaceutical ingredients] for generics we need in the United States is going to be right at that facility," Navarro said. "It's going to be the renaissance of the great state of New York as an industrial power.”
He said the project with Kodak “is going to be amazing.”
The Trump administration has been advocating to reshore manufacturing of essential goods amid the coronavirus pandemic, especially pharmaceuticals.
Navarro said the Kodak (KODK) deal will help alleviate the country’s reliance on China, India, Ireland and other countries for pharmaceuticals.
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