The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), a leading US trade group representing the supplements industry, is calling on the US Department of Commerce to exclude dietary supplements and their ingredients from probes launched by the Trump administration into national security implications of pharmaceutical imports.

In formal comments submitted to the agency, CRN reminded federal officials that “dietary supplements are not pharmaceuticals.” Its submission outlined how supplements and their ingredients — though they may share some Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) codes with pharmaceutical products — “serve a vastly different purpose and operate in a distinct marketplace”.

“CRN respectfully urges the Department to protect the US dietary supplement industry’s role in supporting the health, jobs, and economy for Americans,” the association wrote. “CRN recommends the Department recognize the differences between pharmaceuticals and dietary supplements and expressly exclude dietary supplements and their ingredients from this Section 232 investigation.”

CRN’s comments highlight that fact the dietary supplement industry supports more than 616,000 American jobs, generates nearly $158 billion in total economic output annually, and provides significant tax revenue for federal, state, and local governments. Furthermore, it adds, the vast majority of finished dietary supplements consumed in the US are manufactured, packaged, and labeled domestically, even though the ingredients—vitamins, minerals, botanicals, amino acids, and others — are often sourced globally due to “practical limitations in domestic production”.

The association warns that sector-specific tariffs aimed at pharmaceuticals but inadvertently applied to supplements could lead to severe unintended consequences, including supply chain disruptions, product shortages, increased costs to consumers, and the offshoring of US manufacturing jobs. CRN also raised concerns that tariff-induced supply chain stress could elevate risks of adulteration, with increasing pressure to cut corners to control costs.

“Consumers depend on affordable, high-quality supplements to maintain their health, and US manufacturers depend on stable ingredient supply chains to deliver those products,” said Steve Mister, CRN’s president and CEO. “Tariffs designed to protect national security should not limit access to dietary supplements, thereby endangering American jobs and public health.”

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