He indicated that the proposed tariffs would not take effect immediately, stating, “We’ll give them a certain period of time to get their act together,” referring to pharmaceutical companies. He added, “I’ll give people about a year, year and a half.”
Trump has previously proposed tariffs and later altered or delayed them, so it remains uncertain if and when the 200% pharmaceutical tariff will be implemented. Pharmaceutical stocks remained largely unchanged after the announcement.Earlier in April, after announcing reciprocal tariffs across 60 countries—excluding the pharmaceutical sector—Trump had stated that tariffs on pharmaceuticals would be introduced at “never seen before” levels.
“Pharma tariffs are going to come in at levels you haven’t really seen before. We are looking at pharmaceuticals as a separate category. We will be announcing that sometime in the near future, and not too distant future. It’s under review right now,” Trump had said at the time.
Currently, the pharmaceutical sector is under investigation by the U.S. Commerce Department under Section 232, which is used to assess the impact of imports on national security. Imports investigated under Section 232 are not subject to the baseline or reciprocal tariffs announced earlier.
Trump has said the tariffs are intended to encourage companies to bring drug manufacturing back to the US. Companies including Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, and AbbVie have begun increasing their U.S. investments after years of decline in domestic drug production.
