It’s hard to imagine the United States would be in a situation where the most basic of foodstuff is not available for babies, but that’s exactly where we are in 2022. The baby formula shortage is a national emergency, and the White House and congressional leaders should have been prepared for it months ago.

How the nation ended up in this mess is telling. This is a uniquely American crisis. Our neighbors in Canada and Mexico still have plenty of baby formula on their shelves. What’s different in this country is that the United States relies primarily on three companies — Abbott, Gerber and Reckitt — to supply the vast majority of baby formula for the nation. This has become a highly concentrated market, and imports of baby formula are almost nonexistent. Abbott had to shut down a big formula factory in February after several babies became sick and two died from a rare infection. We still lack clear answers about what happened. But it could have been predicted that, with a major supplier impaired, a baby formula shortage would turn into a red-siren emergency.

The simple solution, from the outset, would have been to import more formula from abroad, from places such as the European Union, Britain, Canada, Australia and Japan. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Monday that it was streamlining its review process so that foreign manufacturers could begin shipping more formula into the United States. That should have happened weeks ago. The FDA also reached a deal...

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