Trump prepares pharmaceutical tariffs of up to 100%

The Trump administration imposed on Thursday new tariffs It’s about brand-name drugs from pharmaceutical companies that won’t make deals with the president to lower U.S. drug prices — a long-awaited move that will likely affect only a small portion of drugmakers.

“We need to make sure that our drug supply is protected, it’s safe, it’s domestic,” a senior administration official who declined to give his name told reporters Thursday. he said. “That’s what we’re doing.”

Also Thursday, the Trump administration changed the way it operates Customs duties are calculated on imported raw materials of steel, aluminum and copper, and in imported products containing these metals.

Patented medicines and their active ingredients face 100% duty under the drug scheme, but there are ways for drug manufacturers to reduce or avoid the duties, the official said.

The administration will impose a 20 percent tax on companies planning to produce onshore, rising to 100 percent after four years. Drug manufacturers that have fully executed drug pricing agreements or are currently negotiating with the Department of Health and Human Services and manufacture domestically will be exempt from the tariffs. New domestic facilities must be completed by January 2029 to qualify, the official said.

Major drugmakers have 120 days before the 100% tariff rate takes effect, the official said, but the administration expects more companies to announce restocking plans before that date. Smaller drugmakers that rely on contract manufacturers have 180 days before that rate hits.

Meanwhile, some countries with larger trade deals with the United States will face different drug taxes, with rates of 15% in the European Union, Japan, Korea and Switzerland. Britain will face a 10 percent tariff partly because the government has increased the price it will pay for medicines, the official said.

“These countries, production can stay in these countries because they made a bigger trade agreement with America,” the official said.

In the statement made by the White House, it was stated that genetic products, biosimilars and related ingredients are not currently subject to tariffs, but this will be re-evaluated within a year. information note.

Certain specialty pharmaceutical products, including those for animal health and the treatment of rare diseases, will be exempt from duty if they come from countries with which we have trade agreements or “meet an urgent public health need,” the fact sheet said.

The plan represents a new shift in Trump’s aggressive trade strategy, more than a month after the Supreme Court struck down global tariffs that excluded the pharmaceutical industry in 2025. The industry-specific tariffs follow a Commerce Department investigation that determined certain drug imports pose a national security risk to the United States.

More than a dozen major drugmakers since November Eli Lilly, Pfizer And Novo Nordisksigned deals with Trump to lower prices of new and existing drugs. These deals are part of the president’s “most favored nation” policy, which ties U.S. drug prices to cheaper prices abroad and exempts companies from tariffs for three years.

The Trump administration official said 13 companies have already signed a drug pricing agreement, while talks are ongoing with four other drugmakers. The official added that there have been $400 billion in commitments to reshore production in the industry so far during Trump’s term.

Before the landmark drug pricing agreements, Trump repeatedly threatened tariffs on drug imports. These threats and efforts to curry favor with the president have fueled a new wave of U.S. manufacturing investments from the pharmaceutical industry. These commitments come at a time when domestic pharmaceutical production has decreased significantly.

In a separate tariff on metals, the duty would remain at 50% on raw materials made of steel, aluminum and copper, such as aluminum sheets or steel coils, but would be based on the full price paid by U.S. importers.

The regulation was made to prevent foreign sellers from undervaluing their products and paying less tariffs, a senior administration official said in a call with reporters on Thursday.

Imported finished products containing more than 15 percent of these metals will now be subject to a 25 percent tariff on the total value of the product. The previous tax was only 50% of the value of the metal in the product.

Finished products containing less than 15% of these metals will not be subject to tariffs.

A senior administration official said changes to tariffs on metals should not affect the cost of goods, but nongovernment estimates suggest it would modestly increase the effective tax rate.

The Committee for a Responsible Budget estimates the change would generate an additional $70 billion in federal revenue over the next 10 years.

— CNBC’s Megan Cassella contributed to this article.