President Donald Trump’s tariffs on pharmaceuticals “to come at some point,” per CNBC, as companies promise to build infrastructure in the U.S.
President Donald Trump on Monday reiterated plans to impose tariffs on several products, including pharmaceuticals, according to several media reports.
The tariffs will come “in the very near future,” Trump said, according to reporting from CNBC. High on Trump’s list are automobiles, tariffs on which will come “very shortly.” The additional levies on pharmaceuticals, meanwhile, will come “at some point,” Trump said, “because we have to have pharmaceuticals.” The president is also eyeing tariffs on lumber and semiconductors.
Tariffs have been the Trump administration’s tool of choice. In February, just weeks after he was sworn into office, Trump made good on an election promise and announced steep tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China. These additional levies weren’t explicitly directed at the pharma industry, though experts argued that these fees—especially those imposed on China—would nevertheless pose a problem for drugmakers, which have increasingly looked eastward for new medicines. Analysts have warned that tariffs aimed at drugmakers will likely increase prices for U.S. patients.
Later that month, in a closed-door meeting, Trump specifically took aim at pharma, telling some of the industry’s biggest names that they needed to bring their manufacturing operations back to the U.S. or face tariffs. Among those in attendance were Merck CEO Robert Davis, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla and Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks.
Two of these executives have since signed off on hefty investments into their U.S. manufacturing footprints. Lilly unveiled a $27 billion commitment just days after the meeting, earmarked for the construction of four production facilities to be built over the next five years.
Merck soon followed suit, announcing earlier this month that it would invest an additional $1 billion into its U.S. vaccine manufacturing footprint, which will go toward the construction of a new plant in North Carolina. Merck plans to pour an additional $8 billion into U.S. manufacturing by 2028. Last week, J&J also announced a $55 billion manufacturing and R&D package, including three new production plants and the expansion of existing sites.
For Pfizer’s part, Bourla said at the 45th TD Cowen Annual Health Care Conference earlier this month that the pharma is prepared to reshore its overseas manufacturing footprint “if something happens.”
Currently, the pharma has “probably the largest manufacturing network of any other company” in the U.S., with 13 production facilities in the country, according to Bourla. Should the need arise, Pfizer will be able to sidestep potential tariffs “by transferring from manufacturing sites outside, to manufacturing sites here the things that can be transferred quickly.”
