With the industry in a holding pattern, President Donald Trump is again beating the drum for pharmaceutical import tariffs—though the exact nature and timing of their implementation remains unclear as ever.
U.S. trade duties on pharmaceutical products are coming “very soon,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday morning. The President made the remarks during a return trip from the G7 meeting in Canada, Reuters reports.
"We're going to be doing pharmaceuticals very soon. That's going to bring all the companies back into America," Trump said, as quoted by the publication. "It's going to bring most of them back into, at least partially back in."
The President’s remarks are the latest in a series from his administration threatening pharmaceutical tariffs without any real clarity on how and when the duties could be implemented.
Many experts and industry watchers had expected pharmaceutical tariffs to appear in the duties unveiled during Trump’s "Liberation Day" event in early April, but the sector was ultimately spared in the President’s grand reveal.
Still, the industry had little time to catch its breath, with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick noting in mid-April that tariffs on pharmaceuticals were coming down “in the next month or two.”
Given the timing of Lutnick’s comments on April 13, the target date for a potential pharmaceutical tariff rollout has now come and gone, with the Trump administration again drudging up the line that duties are imminent without offering any additional detail.
One potential source for the delay could be the Section 232 investigation into pharmaceuticals and related products that the administration kicked off at the beginning of April. The probe, which is powered by the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, gives the President the authority to impose trade restrictions, such as tariffs, if national security threats are identified within the U.S.’ trade network.
An investigation report is due to President Trump 270 days from the official publication of the probe on April 16.
Meanwhile, Trump still has the power to impose tariffs on pharmaceuticals on an emergency basis. A 232 investigation—which Trump has also used to justify 25% tariffs on steel, aluminum and the auto industry—could provide justification to implement trade duties over a longer span of time and potentially take further actions on the quest to restore the U.S.’ manufacturing base.
Trump has threatened that pharmaceutical import tariffs could clock in at “25% or higher.” The President first floated the number in late March at a Cabinet meeting where he suggested, “[w]e’ll be announcing pharmaceuticals at some point in the not too distant [future] because we have to have pharmaceuticals.”
At the time, Trump stressed that the announcement would come “in the very near future, not the long future, the very near future.”
Promoting investments in U.S. manufacturing has been a major component of Trump’s trade policy. While the prospect of tariffs has largely proved unpopular with the industry, trade groups and foreign governments, multiple drugmakers have nevertheless telegraphed sizeable cash infusions into their U.S. operations in recent months.
The combined investment pledges from Eli Lilly, J&J, Roche and Novartis alone amount to a staggering $150 billion.
In the wake of the latest comment, stock prices for many drugmakers slipped early Tuesday, according to financial analysis platform Seeking Alpha.