Can Puerto Rico capitalise on the Trump administration’s “make in America” push?
President Donald Trump wants to bring manufacturing back to America. The last 40 years of globalisation and free trade saw huge chunks of the US supply chain for all kinds of goods, including essential medicines and medical devices, outsourced to lower-cost destinations in Asia.
Now, through a mixture of tariffs on goods manufactured abroad and incentives for firms to produce within the US, his administration hopes to usher in a new era of “made in America.”
One of President Trump’s recent executive orders, issued in March 2025, aims to accelerate the reshoring of pharmaceutical manufacturing by streamlining FDA approvals for new domestic production facilities and imposing higher tariffs on certain imported drug products. Announcing the move, Trump stated, “We can’t keep relying on other countries for our essential medicines. We’re bringing manufacturing back home — creating jobs and securing our supply chain.”
This push builds on Trump’s long-standing “America First” strategy but reflects a renewed urgency in his second term to reduce dependence on foreign suppliers and strengthen domestic resilience.
All the Ingredients
This political appetite for “reshoring” pharmaceutical manufacturing could spell opportunity for Puerto Rico. Everything produced on the island – a US territory that is part of the US customs zone and not subject to US tariffs – is technically “made in America.”
Puerto Rico follows FDA regulations and US intellectual property laws, allowing products manufactured there to be seamlessly exported to the mainland. Eleven of the world’s top pharmaceutical companies maintain manufacturing sites on the island, and over thirty medical-device companies also operate locally. For example, AbbVie has produced Humira, the world’s bestselling biologic drug, in Puerto Rico since around 2002. One report notes that 25 million Humira syringes are manufactured annually on the island, and it remains a vital hub for biologics production
But why would a company considering relocating or bolstering its US pharma manufacturing footprint look to an island 1,000 miles off the mainland? The answers are manifold.
Firstly, Puerto Rico has an established pharma/medtech manufacturing base developed over 65 years, already exports over USD 50 billion of pharma products annually according to the Puerto Rico Department of Economic Development and Commerce (DDEC), churns out over 25,000 STEM graduates every year, and boasts FDA-certified cold chain logistics infrastructure.
“Despite some companies downsizing or leaving the island in the past, there are still major companies like Amgen, Lilly, AbbVie, Boston Scientific and CooperVision that view Puerto Rico as essential to their operations,” explains Elizabeth Plaza, founder of ProQuality Network, which helps pharma manufacturers maintain CGMP compliance and improve their quality systems.
“The island offers unique advantages, including competitive incentives, bilingual talent, and a strong foundation in GMP. Additionally, Puerto Rico has outstanding universities that produce top engineers, pharmacists, chemists, and other life sciences professionals. She adds, “Water is the main ingredient in most biopharmaceutical processes and the availability of water and its cost here are highly competitive. This is crucial for manufacturing and yet is often overlooked.”
Manufacturers – both large and small – moving into Puerto Rico often “piggyback” on this dense network of existing infrastructure rather than create their own from scratch. “Puerto Rico is witnessing a notable trend where startups in the life sciences sector increasingly favour brownfield projects over greenfield initiatives,” explains Ella Woger-Nieves of Invest Puerto Rico. CDMO OcyonBio, CRO CDI Labs, medtech manufacturer Copan, contact lens giant CooperVision, and oncology biotech CytoImmune Therapeutics, are just five recent examples of this trend.
“Rather than building facilities from the ground up, these companies are leveraging existing GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) ready sites, which allow for a seamless transition for everything from R&D to full-scale production,” explains Woger-Nieves. “This approach not only reduces costs but also accelerates operational timelines.”
The results have been startling at Copan. “Initially envisioned as a modest-scale operation, our initial investment into Puerto Rican manufacturing quickly expanded as Copan experienced substantial institutional backing and identified new business opportunities,” proclaims Copan Industries COO Efraín Rodriguez. “This confidence translated into a significant financial commitment, with the company investing over USD 100 million to solidify its presence in Puerto Rico.”
Even more significant as a selling point are the cost savings. According to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and DDEC, the average hourly wage for production workers in pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing is 30 to 40 percent lower in Puerto Rico than in comparable mainland US hubs such as New Jersey, Massachusetts, and North Carolina.
Moreover, under Puerto Rico’s Act 60, eligible manufacturing and R&D companies pay a flat four percent corporate income tax, versus the 21 percent federal rate in the mainland US. There is also no additional state income tax (which can range from three to 12 percent on the mainland) and real estate costs for industrial and laboratory space are 20–35 percent lower than in major US hubs.
Finally, a 2022 KPMG report estimated that Puerto Rico total operational costs for pharma manufacturing (labour, taxes, utilities, facilities) were 15 to 20 percent lower than comparable operations in mainland US regions with similar compliance and infrastructure; creating a compelling investment case.
Capitalising on the Moment
With all these fundamentals in place, perhaps the biggest challenge for Puerto Rico is raising awareness of its advantages and competing effectively with other US states. Intra-state competition for biopharma investment dollars is extremely high, with many mainland states offering aggressive incentives, established research clusters, and reliable infrastructure. Puerto Rico also faces lingering concerns around electricity stability and long-term resilience, which can make companies hesitant to commit large-scale investments despite the island’s clear strengths.
To this end, Republican Governor Jenniffer González-Colón issued her own, complementary, executive order in late March 2025 and reached out to top officials in the US to offer Puerto Rico’s well-established, yet currently underutilised, manufacturing capacity as an economic engine to help grow American prosperity.
As George Laws Garcia, executive director of the Puerto Rico Statehood Council, writes in The Hill, “González-Colón’s executive order promotes the relocation of overseas manufacturing of pharmaceuticals and other products to Puerto Rico. Much like Trump’s executive order, it eliminates barriers and streamlines the process for businesses to move to the island.”
“Puerto Rico is ready to welcome and expand multinational companies and continue consolidating its position as a key player in the national supply chain,” Gonzalez-Colon affirms. With its manufacturing muscle, the governor argues, the island also has an important role to play in securing national supply chain resiliency.
“The national security of the United States of America depends to a large extent on the strength of its supply chain. In the current global context, Puerto Rico plays a fundamental and strategic role in the American supply chain.”
Over at the Puerto Rico Chamber of Commerce, President Luis E. Pizarro Otero has been at the forefront of getting over messaging that resonates with the core priorities of the Trump White House.
“Under the Trump administration, the Chamber has refined its federal engagement strategy to resonate more directly with the administration’s focus on fiscal responsibility, government efficiency, and domestic industrial revival,” he explains.
“Rather than shifting its objectives, the Chamber adjusted its positioning, emphasising Puerto Rico’s proven ability to deliver high-quality healthcare and manufacturing outcomes under constrained budgets.
“Through the Federal Affairs Chamber Educational Series (FACES) these themes have been communicated effectively, particularly in relation to reshoring, where Puerto Rico has been presented as a natural extension of US manufacturing capacity, a message that aligns with the “China-fired, Puerto Rico-hired” narrative championed by [Trump senior counsellor for trade and manufacturing] Peter Navarro.”
Unpicking the Strategy
The key pillars of the governor’s strategy are the creation of a new task force under the direction of Sebastián Negrón-Reichard, secretary of the DDEC, and a series of initiatives aimed at boosting Puerto Rico’s attractiveness.
Several of these plans are designed to enhance the experience of companies establishing themselves in Puerto Rico. “This is a time for Puerto Rico to capitalise on what we do best by improving areas where we can do better,” says Negrón-Reichard. “By doubling down on what has made us successful historically, and focusing on improvements where needed, we can position Puerto Rico as a key player moving forward.”
These improvements include a ‘One-Stop Investment Window’ aimed at providing companies with a centralised point of contact to streamline processes and a ‘Fast-Track Permitting Process,’ which sets out to expedite the approvals. “[Puerto Rico’s permitting system] has long been a bottleneck that frustrates entrepreneurs, delays investment, and weakens our competitiveness,” said Negrón-Reichard, admitting the need for an upgrade.
Then there is the issue of energy supply (discussed in depth elsewhere in this report). Many of Puerto Rico’s government and business leaders see energy reform as crucial to the island maintaining a competitive edge.
“Energy remains one of the most pressing challenges, but we are making strides toward a more sustainable and reliable system,” affirms Negrón-Reichard. Although energy was not mentioned in the recent decree, the DDEC secretary confirmed that “the governor has prioritised addressing both energy generation and distribution, with legislation passed to ensure flexibility in the current system while planning for future generations.”
Opportunity Knocks
If Puerto Rico can tackle its main challenges — namely bureaucratic hurdles and energy reliability — and successfully make its case for investment in Washington DC, it has the potential to become a central player in the US effort to reshore pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing.
Much of the infrastructure – both physical and human – is already in place but under-utilised, meaning that potential investors do not need to start from scratch, but rather build on strong foundations.
As the political winds blow towards reshoring, the island’s manufacturers and service providers are braced for an influx of new investment and demands. “With reshoring in the US, many companies will need to scale their operations, and we will be here for that,” proclaims Jesus Manuel Laboy, president of VIBRA, which provides predictive maintenance and reliability engineering services for industries across the Americas. “We are bilingual and are also investing in our software to break down barriers. Language has been a significant challenge in our work, particularly because most technical literature and vendor materials are in English.”
However, capitalising on the opportunities at hand will require a multi-stakeholder effort, as OcyonBio CEO Robert Salcedo concludes. “Unlocking Puerto Rico’s full potential requires a fundamental shift in infrastructure strategy, governance, and media engagement,” he states. “The island possesses all the necessary components to become a global leader, but achieving this vision demands decisive action, structural reforms, and a change in both perception and execution.”
