President Donald Trump has threatened to charge tariffs of up to 250% on pharmaceutical imports to the United States.
On August 5, the president told CNBC that he plans to impose new tariffs on pharmaceutical and semiconductor imports “within the next week or so.”
Related posts
He stated that he intends to impose a smaller tariff on medicine imports before gradually increasing the levies over the next 12 to 18 months to a maximum level.
Trump suggested he would start with a “small tariff on pharmaceuticals.” “But in one year, one and a half years maximum, it’s going to go to 150%, and then it’s going to go to 250%, because we want pharmaceuticals made in our country.”
He claimed that other countries “make a fortune” on pharmaceuticals, mentioning drugs supplied from China and Ireland.
Trump has stated multiple times recently that trade sanctions may be taken against the pharmaceutical business, which has been increasingly globalized during the 1990s, with a drug supply chain stretching from Europe to China and India.
In July, Trump stated that his administration planned to impose pharmaceutical-specific tariffs of up to 200%, but that drug companies would have time to build U.S.-based manufacturing.
In April, Trump announced plans to levy taxes on drugs manufactured elsewhere, claiming that this would encourage drug companies to relocate to the United States.
On July 31, Trump addressed letters to 17 drug companies requesting them to reduce U.S. prescription prices by September 29 to “most favored nation” amounts paid by other countries.
In the letters, Trump pushed drug companies to use such pricing for Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program for low-income residents.
He also recommended that drug firms decrease prices in the United States to the same levels as those charged in Europe and elsewhere for newly introduced pharmaceuticals for Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance programs.
Trump also pushed drug corporations to reduce medication pricing for US consumers and businesses that buy directly from them.
“Make no mistake: a collaborative effort towards achieving global pricing parity would be the most effective path for companies, the government and American patients,” Trump said in the letters. “But if you refuse to step up, we will deploy every tool in our arsenal to protect American families from continued abusive drug pricing practices.”
