Americans could soon be paying more at the pharmacy counter under a sweeping new move from President Trump, who on Thursday ordered a 100% tariff on many imported brand-name drugs, the Hill reports. The White House framed the action as a national security measure aimed at cutting dependence on foreign-made patented medicines and their ingredients. The AP notes Thursday was the one-year anniversary of Trump's so-called "Liberation Day," when he announced sweeping tariffs on almost every country. Also Thursday, Trump tweaked his tariffs on industrial metals, the Washington Post reports.
The tariff isn't one-size-fits-all. Drugmakers that have signed "Most Favored Nation" deals with the administration, as well as generics and orphan drugs, are exempt. Companies planning to build US manufacturing plants get a reduced 20% rate. Products from the EU, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein will be hit with a 15% tariff, while the UK's rate will be set under a separate trade deal. Officials cast the move as forcing foreign buyers to "pay their fair share" for innovation, "so that American patients are not shouldering the burden of funding research and development for the next generation of life-saving medicines." But the pharmaceutical lobby warned it will push up costs and undercut investment in US facilities, noting most medicines used in America are already made domestically or sourced from close allies.
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