How to reform infant formula policy, according to Project 2025

FoodFix quoted CEI’s CEO & experts on formula policy according to project 2025

The Project 2025 vision: Until this crisis hit, there wasn’t much debate about infant formula policy in Washington. While the media coverage was intense during the shortage, attention faded once the formula returned to the shelves. That’s partly why it was so interesting to see a conservative policy prescription on the topic. The section on formula — titled “Supply Chain Lessons from the Baby Formula Debacle — The Case for Free Trade,” was written by Kent Lassman, CEO of the Competitive Enterprise Institute and long-time free trade advocate. 

Lassman views the shortage as a clear example of domestic protectionism, ultimately harming the very people it is meant to protect. In Project 2025, he criticizes our tariffs on foreign-produced infant formula. These tariffs currently range from roughly 15 percent to just over 17 percent — a steep rate compared to the U.S.’ average tariff rate of 2 percent on industrial goods. But Lassman doesn’t simply blame tariffs for our infant formula market woes, he writes: “As if tariffs were not enough … ever-evolving labeling requirements and nutritional standards that (conveniently for domestic manufacturers) are always just slightly different from international standards.” 

When I spoke to Ryan Young, senior economist at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, about the likelihood of Trump adopting Lassman’s policy proposals, he was blunt: “Odds are against it.” Young noted that Peter Navarro, former director of White House National Trade Council and the first White House official to be imprisoned for refusing to comply with a subpoena, was recently nominated to serve as trade adviser in President Trump’s White House. Navarro, who was also a contributor to Project 2025, is famously pro-tariff, and his influence makes it highly unlikely that Trump will decrease any tariffs, even for infant formula. When asked if a Republican Congress would advocate for free-trade infant formula policy, Young told me that he’s pessimistic, “These companies (Abbott and Mead Johnson) have millions of dollars … Good luck lobbying harder than they do.” 

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