US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order imposing 100% tariffs on certain drugs for companies that fail to reach a deal with Washington in the coming months.
The document was published on the White House website.
Companies that have signed agreements and are building pharmaceutical factories for preparations and ingredients in the US will be subject to zero tariffs. Those that do not have such agreements but are implementing such projects in the US will be subject to 20% tariffs, which will subsequently increase to 100%.
A senior official told reporters that companies still have several months to negotiate with the Trump administration before the 100% tariffs take effect – 120 days for the big companies and 180 days for everyone else, according to The Washington Post. The official said Washington has already reached 17 agreements with major drugmakers.
Trump cited the “national security threat posed by imported pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical ingredients.” The order came on the first anniversary of the so-called “Emancipation Day,” when the president imposed massive tariffs on nearly every country in the world, causing a stock market crash. Those tariffs were among those overturned by the Supreme Court in February.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to impose tariffs on foreign-made pharmaceuticals. His administration has used that to strike deals with big companies like Pfizer, Eli Lilly and Bristol Myers Squibb over the past year, promising lower prices for new drugs.
A number of countries have reached trade agreements with the United States. A 15% tariff on medicines will apply to the EU, Japan, South Korea and Switzerland, while the UK will face a 10% tariff. The UK previously announced it had secured zero duty on all British medicines exported to the US for at least three years.