President Trump said Tuesday that pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca will invest $50 billion in pharmaceutical manufacturing by 2030, a development he attributed to his threat to impose tariffs on drugs made outside the U.S.

The British-Swedish multinational drugmaker said the cornerstone of its investment will be a multi-billion dollar facility in Virginia that will drive its weight-loss drugs.

“Thank you to AstraZeneca,” Mr. Trump said.

Mr. Trump said the AstraZeneca announcement is proof his get-tough approach on trade is working.

Earlier this month, Mr. Trump said he planned to make an announcement “very soon” on imported pharmaceuticals. He said drugmakers would get a year or so to bring their operations into the U.S. or face a tariff.

“They’re gonna be tariffed at a very, very high rate, like 200%. We’ll give them a certain period of time to get their act together,” Mr. Trump said at the time.

The tariffs could be crippling, though products made within the U.S. would be spared from levies.

A Swiss drugmaker, Roche, announced this year it would invest $50 billion in the U.S., and Novartis plans to invest $23 billion.

AstraZeneca said that besides the Virginia facility, the investments will include:

• Expansion of a research and development facility in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

• An R&D center in Kendall Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

• Manufacturing facilities for cell therapy in Rockville, Maryland, and Tarzana, California.

• An expansion of manufacturing in Mount Vernon, Indiana.

• An expansion of specialty manufacturing in Coppell, Texas.

AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said the investment will support the drugmaker’s goal of reaching $80 billion in revenue by 2030, with half of it generated in the U.S.

“Today’s announcement underpins our belief in America’s innovation in biopharmaceuticals and our commitment to the millions of patients who need our medicines in America and globally,” Mr. Soriot said.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, meanwhile, said the deal represented a course direction.

“For decades Americans have been reliant on foreign supply of key pharmaceutical products,” he said. “President Trump and our nation’s new tariff policies are focused on ending this structural weakness.”

Mr. Trump is threatening levies on Big Pharma as he pursues an aggressive trade agenda that centers on tariffs, which are taxes on foreign goods brought into U.S. markets.

He’s imposed high tariffs on steel, aluminum, copper, cars and car parts and is threatening nation-by-nation tariffs on individual nations, effective Aug. 1, unless they offer better trade terms for the U.S.

Mr. Trump threatened to impose 20% tariffs on goods from the Philippines.

He outlined the tariff threat in a letter to Mr. Marcos last week. It is an increase from the 17% announced in April, though both sides are looking to finalize a trade pact that could alter that amount and be beneficial to both countries.

“We’re very close to finishing a trade deal,” Mr. Trump said.

• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.