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Trump's drug tariff announcement still 'weeks away': ReutersTrump's drug tariff announcement still 'weeks away': Reuters
  • Publisher:Phexcom
  • Publication:2025/8/12

President Donald Trump’s announcement about tariffs on pharmaceutical goods imported to the United States is delayed.

Despite a threat from the President early last week that the tariff disclosure would come “within the next week or so,” his much-anticipated announcement is still “weeks away,” according to a report from Reuters, citing industry and government sources.

Meanwhile, continuing to squirm are drugmakers, especially those who rely heavily on U.S. sales of products that are manufactured on foreign soil. In Switzerland on Thursday, government officials met with leaders from Roche and Novartis to discuss the potential fallout from U.S. tariffs as well as Trump’s overall effort to slash drug prices.



Swiss Interior Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider and Economy Minister Guy Parmelin exchanged views with Roche Chairman Severin Schwan and Novartis' international president, Patrick Horber, M.D., according to a report from Bloomberg. Roche and Novartis are the two largest companies in Switzerland.

In an email, Roche declined to comment on the talks, calling them "confidential."

"We maintain ongoing communication with government agencies and authorities," Novartis said, adding that it could not "provide any information about specific discussions."

Economic concerns have become heightened in the traditionally neutral country since the U.S. slapped it last month with a 39% tariff rate, compared to a 15% figure for the European Union and a 10% rate for the U.K.

Additionally, on Wednesday, Trump signed a new executive order designed to shore up the U.S. pharmaceutical supply chain. The order calls on the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) to identify and stockpile active pharmaceutical ingredients for roughly 26 medicines the agency deems essential.

Trump’s holdup in announcing the drug tariffs is another in a series of delays. In April, during Trump’s “Liberation Day” event, the sector was spared in the President’s reveal. Then, later in the month, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said that tariffs on pharmaceuticals were coming “in the next month or two.”

In May, when signing an executive order directing the FDA to reduce regulatory hurdles for domestic drug manufacturers, Trump told reporters he would announce pharmaceutical-specific tariffs in the next two weeks. A month later, during a return trip from a G7 meeting in Canada, Trump told reporters on Air Force One that drug tariffs were coming “very soon.”

Last week, in addition to claiming the announcement would come shortly, Trump said that the levy on pharma products will be phased in and eventually reach 250%. That figure was up from his previous threat of up to 200%, which he revealed in March of this year and reiterated in a July Cabinet meeting.

One potential source for the delay could be the Section 232 investigation into pharmaceuticals and related products that the administration kicked off at the beginning of April. The probe, which is powered by the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, would give the President the authority to impose trade restrictions, such as tariffs, if national security threats are identified within the U.S. trade network.