President Donald Trump warned Tuesday that his administration will impose 100% tariffs on imported branded drugs beginning Oct. 1 unless manufacturers have broken ground on new U.S. facilities.
The threat marks Trump’s sharpest escalation yet in his effort to pressure pharmaceutical companies to expand domestic production. He had previously floated tariffs as high as 250% over the next 18 months. In his post on Truth Social, Trump said the mandate applies to any branded or patented drugs unless construction of U.S. plants is already underway.
Pharma giants including Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca, Roche, GlaxoSmithKline, and Johnson & Johnson have already announced multibillion-dollar investments in U.S. facilities under pressure from the administration.
Industry groups pushed back. PhRMA senior vice president Alex Schriver said tariffs would “risk those plans because every dollar spent on tariffs is a dollar that cannot be invested in American manufacturing or the development of future treatments and cures.”
Europe, a leading source of U.S. drug imports, faces heightened pressure under the administration’s recent trade deal, which already imposed a 15% tariff on European-branded drugs. Ireland alone supplied about $50 billion worth of pharmaceutical imports last year.
Sources:
Discover more from News Facts Network
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
