Trump's Counter Productive Tariff Moves

On September 25, 2025, US President Donald Trump announced that the United States would impose a 100 per cent tariff on all branded and patented pharmaceutical imports starting October 1, unless the companies importing them are actively building manufacturing facilities in the US, defined as “breaking ground” or “under construction.” As of September 26, no official guidance or regulations had been released regarding how this policy would be implemented. The announcement has raised significant concerns from healthcare stakeholders, particularly the American Hospital Association (AHA), which represents nearly 5,000 hospitals, health systems, networks, and 43,000 individual members.

- Narayan Kulkarni

The AHA has long emphasised the complexity and critical nature of the American pharmaceutical supply chain, noting that hospitals rely on both domestic and international sources to provide lifesaving treatments. In comments submitted to the Department of Commerce in May 2025 regarding its Section 232 investigation of pharmaceutical imports, the AHA stressed that even temporary disruptions in drug availability could jeopardise patients with emergent conditions such as heart attacks, infections, cancer, organ failure, and other critical illnesses.

The organisation highlighted that the US pharmaceutical supply chain is highly complex, susceptible to natural disasters, transportation disruptions, raw material shortages, and production delays, and requires careful coordination to maintain continuous patient care. As of the first quarter of 2025, 270 drugs were listed as being in shortage, including intravenous fluids affected by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina. A Government Accountability Office analysis found that nearly 60 per cent of drug shortages now last two or more years, up from one-third in 2019.