US threatens 200% tariffs on pharma

US President Donald Trump threatened to raise tariffs on pharmaceutical imports to 200% on Tuesday, months after his administration launched a trade investigation into the sector in which Indian manufacturers have significant stakes.

- Shashank Mattoo

“We will be announcing something very soon on pharmaceuticals. We're going to give people a year or a year and a half to come in and after that, they're going to be tariffed if they have to bring the pharmaceuticals into the country... They're going to be tariffed at a very, very high rate, like 200%,” Trump told reporters during a cabinet meeting.

This comes after the Trump administration launched a Section 232 investigation into pharmaceuticals in April. A Section 232 investigation attempts to determine whether imports of particular items pose a national security threat to the US.

The move was widely seen as laying the groundwork for placing tariffs on pharma imports, although the sector was ‘exempted from Trump's reciprocal tariffs announced in April.