


President Donald Trump hinted he could slap a 200% tariff on overseas pharmaceutical companies “very soon.”
Trump has long hinted at pharmaceutical tariffs to bring the sensitive industry back to the U.S., but has so far held off on the risky measure. He revived these efforts on Tuesday, hinting at new tariffs targeting the industry but giving a year-and-a-half window for implementation.
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“We’ll be announcing something very soon on pharmaceuticals. We’re gonna give people about a year, year and a half to come in, and after that, they’re gonna be tariffed if they have to bring the pharmaceuticals into the country at a very high rate, like 200%,” Trump said.
“We’ll give them a certain period of time to get their act together,” he added.
After the announcement, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC that details would come at the end of July.
“With pharmaceuticals and semiconductors, those studies are being completed at the end of the month, and so the president will then set his policies then, and I’m going to let him wait to decide how he’s going to do it,” Lutnick said.
PhRMA, Big Pharma’s biggest lobbying group, said pharmaceutical tariffs would be “counterproductive.”
“Every dollar spent on tariffs is a dollar that cannot be invested in American manufacturing or the development of future treatments and cures for patients,” Alex Schriver, senior vice president of public affairs for PhRMA, said in a statement obtained by the outlet.
“Medicines have historically been exempt from tariffs because they can increase costs and lead to shortages,” he added.
In an April speech, Trump explained his logic around pharmaceutical tariffs, saying overseas pharmaceutical companies would “come rushing back into our country because we’re the big market.”
The president has hinted at imminent pharmaceutical tariffs, including in May when he said they would be announced in two weeks. The tariffs would most heavily affect China and have stalled during wider trade talks with Beijing.
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Ernst & Young conducted an analysis in April that found the U.S. imported roughly $200 billion in pharmaceutical products in 2023. The analysis estimated that a 25% tariff on foreign-produced drugs would raise drug prices for Americans by more than $50 billion per year, an increase of nearly 13%. Trump is banking on the effects being temporary, offset by the benefits of the crucial industry being relocated to the U.S.
Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, AbbVie, and other drug companies have begun investing more money in the U.S. after an extended period of decline.