Last year, Emergent BioSolutions, a company specializing in life-saving solutions for health threats like smallpox, Ebola, anthrax and opioid overdoses, announced plans to close its Baltimore manufacturing facility. That decision hit the Baltimore region especially hard as it came with the termination of 300 jobs across all areas of its business — and the removal of a key investment in the Baltimore region.
Enter the Trump administration.
Less than four months into President Donald Trump’s term, a key manufacturing investment is on its way back to the Baltimore region. Last month, India-based contract research, development and manufacturing organization Syngene International announced it is paying $36.5 million to acquire its first biologics site in the United States — the same Baltimore facility that Emergent Biosolutions shuttered last year.
This is a massive win for both the city of Baltimore and the state of Maryland. Simply put, a $36.5 million investment in the Baltimore region will stimulate the local economy, strengthen our health care manufacturing capabilities and create jobs.
The Trump administration’s laser focus on bringing manufacturing back to the United States is welcome news to Baltimore, the once-thriving manufacturing powerhouse of the Northeast. In recent decades, manufacturing opportunities have left Baltimore in droves, putting a dent on the local economy and upending the livelihoods of so many families who relied on our industries for their prosperity. Between 1950 and 1995, Baltimore lost over 100,000 manufacturing jobs, three-quarters of its industrial employment, while Maryland saw iconic manufacturing industries, like Bethlehem Steel, leave the region.
Baltimore — once one of the country’s leading industrial cities — is now a cautionary tale of manufacturing decline. Ever present as a reminder are Baltimore’s industrial buildings, which remain shuttered, crumbling and a constant reminder of what Baltimore’s manufacturing once offered our world.
President Trump campaigned on a promise of helping the working class, and he is delivering on that promise. Bringing manufacturing back to our state is key to Baltimore’s economic revival, and a $36.5 million investment is a welcome start.
Syngene International’s investment also addresses another key issue of both local and national importance: reducing our medical supply chain’s dependence on China. For years, the global medical supply chain — especially the manufacturing of small-molecule generic drugs — has relied heavily on China. By facilitating the investment of millions of dollars into a first-of-its-kind biologics site in Baltimore, the Trump administration is contributing to pharmaceutical innovation and supply chain resilience. The development of a medical research and supply chain that runs through Baltimore is a win for our state, a win for supply chain resilience and most importantly – a win for our country.
The hollowing out of American manufacturing has destroyed American cities and towns across the country. The president is working in good faith to bring critical investments — which will lead to increased manufacturing — back to our communities.
Like so many who heard this welcome news, I look forward to seeing the economic activity, jobs and innovations Syngene’s investment will bring to the Baltimore region. As a Maryland resident, I will be extending thanks to President Trump for making good on his promise to bring manufacturing back to our country and state.
Will Maryland’s political majority leadership — who spend all day attacking President Trump — do the same?
Andy Harris (X: @RepAndyHarrisMD) is a Republican representing Maryland in the U.S. House of Representatives.