US readies new pharmaceutical tariffs
Levies of 100% on certain medicines would implement threats Trump made last year
The Trump administration is preparing to impose tariffs of 100 per cent on certain medicines as it pushes drugmakers to manufacture more in the US.
The levies — set to be announced as soon as Thursday — would be applied to companies that have not struck deals with the White House, said people familiar with the matter.
The duties follow through on threats Trump made last autumn, when he said he would impose tariffs of 100 per cent on imports of branded or patented drugs unless the manufacturer was building a plant in the US.
Tariffs on imports from countries that have struck trade deals with the White House would also be capped according to the terms of the deal, the people said.
Last year, the US agreed to cap tariffs on drugs from the EU at 15 per cent as part of the deal struck with the bloc in Turnberry, Scotland.
The UK also struck a deal with the US to lower tariffs on its drugs for three years in exchange for increased NHS spending on medicines.
Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Novo Nordisk are among the companies that have struck deals with the Trump administration to boost investment in the US and lower their drug prices in exchange for a reprieve on the tariffs.
The fresh levies being announced this week are the result of a national security investigation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which was launched in April last year.
Duties imposed under those investigations were not affected by the Supreme Court ruling in February that struck down the sweeping tariffs Trump had imposed using emergency powers.
The White House has since launched probes that could lead to levies using separate legal authorities in an effort to resurrect the tariff wall that it had put in place before the court’s ruling.