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Donald Trump announced 100% tariffs on drugs and pharmaceutical goods imported into the United States in a sudden escalation of his world trade war.
Taxation will be imposed on all brands or patented drugs starting October 1st, the president wrote in the Truth Social Post on Thursday.
The exemption is provided to businesses that actively build new US manufacturing sites. This is “defined as ‘broken ground’ and/or ‘under construction’,” Trump wrote. “Therefore, there will be no duties on these medicines if construction begins.”
The latest Salvo came as part of a series of late-night posts in which Trump imposed fresh tariffs on heavy trucks, kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanity and furniture.
The move rattles the global pharmaceutical and automotive industry and burns tensions with US trading partners.
Heavy trucks made overseas are subject to 25% tariffs, while cabinets, bathroom vanity and “related products” collide with 50% collection and 30% upholstered furniture.
The US launched a national security investigation earlier this year that could lead to drug tariffs, but it is unclear whether the tariffs Trump applies to are part of the investigation’s findings.
He also promotes plans to allow companies to spend more time building manufacturing plants in the United States.
Trump shook the global market in April after announcing sudden “mutual” tariffs on almost all of his trading partners, then suspended taxation and reapplied it at a slightly lower fee a year later.
Medicines are exempt from paying these mutual duties. This means that many drugs will only face sudden collections when new tariffs come into effect within a week.
The tariffs announced by Trump on Thursday will not apply to generic drugs. This means that you can import non-branded drugs into the United States without being subject to “mutual” obligations.
Trump has assembled his tariffs in trucks and bathroom cabinets as a national security issue. “We need to be financially healthy and strong for many reasons, but most importantly for national security purposes!” he wrote on social media.
He denounced “other external countries” for “large ‘floods'” of cabinets and furniture to the United States, saying that the American manufacturing process should be protected.
