Drug prices likely to increase as Trump prepares 250 per cent tariff on imported pharma

Washington: US President Donald Trump announced plans on Tuesday to impose tariffs on imported pharmaceuticals, which could eventually rise as high as 250 per cent over the next year to 18 months. The move is part of his broader effort to bring pharmaceutical manufacturing back to the United States. Trump said the tariffs would start at a lower rate, but “in one year, one-and-a-half years, maximum, it’s going to go to 150 per cent and then it’s going to go to 250 per cent because we want pharmaceuticals made in our country.”

In an interview with CNBC, Trump also revealed plans to impose tariffs on foreign semiconductors and chips “in the next week or so,” although he did not provide further details. These fresh tariff threats come amid Trump’s increased pressure on the pharmaceutical industry to significantly cut costs or face further action.

Alongside these measures, Trump has intensified trade tensions with India, threatening to raise tariffs on New Delhi “very substantially” within 24 hours over the country’s purchases of Russian oil. Trump claimed, “India has not been a good trading partner, because they do a lot of business with us, but we don’t do business with them. So we settled on 25% (tariff), but I think I’m going to raise that very substantially over the next 24 hours, because they’re buying Russian oil. They’re fuelling the war machine. And if they’re going to do that, then I’m not going to be happy.”

India has categorically rejected these allegations, calling the US targeting “unjustified and unreasonable.” The Ministry of External Affairs stressed that India would “take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security.” The ministry pointed out the double standards of the US and European Union, which continue trading with Russia. “Unlike our case, such trade is not even a vital national compulsion,” the MEA added.

Russia also condemned the US pressure tactics as “illegitimate” and backed India’s right to “choose their own trading partners.” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov emphasised that “sovereign countries must decide for themselves with whom they engage in trade and economic cooperation.”

With inputs from IANS