Trump threatens to impose up to 200% tariff on pharmaceuticals ‘very soon’

Trump threatens to impose up to 200% tariff on pharmaceuticals ‘very soon’


U.S. President Donald Trump speaks next to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025.

Kevin Lamarque | Reuters

President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to impose up to 200% tariffs on pharmaceuticals imported into the U.S. “very soon.” 

“They’re going to be tariffs at very high rate, like 200%,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting. 

But he suggested that those levies would not go into effect immediately, saying he will “give people about a year, year and a half.”

“We’ll give them a certain period of time to get their act together,” Trump said, apparently referring to drugmakers.

The president has repeatedly threatened and then changed course on tariff proposals, so there’s no guarantee he will set pharmaceutical tariffs at that rate. Pharmaceutical stocks were largely unchanged following Trump’s comments.

It is Trump’s most significant comment on pharmaceutical-specific tariffs since April, when his administration initiated a so-called Section 232 investigation on those products. That legal authority allows the Secretary of Commerce to investigate the impact of imports on national security.

Those planned tariffs would deal a long-awaited blow to pharmaceutical companies, many of which have pushed back and warned that the levies could drive up costs, deter investments in the U.S. and disrupt the drug supply chain, putting patients at risk. The industry is already navigating the fallout from Trump’s drug pricing policies, which drugmakers argue threaten both their bottom lines and their capacity to invest in research and development.

Trump has said tariffs will incentivize drug companies to move manufacturing operations to the U.S. Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, AbbVie and others are already putting more money into the U.S. after domestic drug manufacturing has shrunk dramatically over the last few decades. 



Source

Healthy Returns: AstraZeneca CEO proposes some U.S. drug price cuts amid Trump pressure
Health

Healthy Returns: AstraZeneca CEO proposes some U.S. drug price cuts amid Trump pressure

The office building of international biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. Cfoto | Future Publishing | Getty Images A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Healthy Returns newsletter, which brings the latest health-care news straight to your inbox. Subscribe here to receive future editions. President Donald Trump has been pressuring pharmaceutical companies to lower U.S. drug […]

Read More
Trump’s pharmaceutical tariffs could affect some drugmakers more than others
Health

Trump’s pharmaceutical tariffs could affect some drugmakers more than others

Medications are stored on shelves at a pharmacy on May 12, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. Eric Thayer | Getty Images President Donald Trump is slated to impose tariffs on pharmaceuticals imported into the U.S. any day now – and the duties may have a bigger impact on some drugmakers than others, according to some […]

Read More
Merck plans  billion cost cuts by end of 2027, narrows full-year outlook
Health

Merck plans $3 billion cost cuts by end of 2027, narrows full-year outlook

Merck & Co. signage on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, US, on Tuesday, April 8, 2025. Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images Merck on Tuesday said it will slash $3 billion in costs by the end of 2027 to be fully reinvested to support new product launches […]

Read More