President Donald Trump signed decrees on Thursday imposing new tariffs on a number of imported medicines, while also adjusting existing ones on metals, exactly one year after announcing his global tariffs.
The surtax on pharmaceutical products aims to accelerate the establishment of factories in the United States and could reach up to 100%, but 15% for countries or territories like the European Union, Japan, or South Korea, which have a trade agreement with Washington.
At the same time, the revamp of tariffs on metals aims to crackdown on companies’ practices of “artificially manipulating” production prices to resell at lower prices in the US, according to the thesis developed by the White House.
Specifically, finished products containing 50% or more of steel, aluminum, or copper will now be taxed at 25% of their total value, not 50% on the proportion of metals they contained.
The new rules regarding metals will take effect from Monday, while tariffs on pharmaceutical products will become reality within 120 to 180 days, depending on the size of the company, according to the White House.
“Our goal is for the majority of licensed pharmaceutical products to be manufactured in the United States,” a US official assured the press.
Companies that commit to installing factories in the US will only be subject to 20% tariffs on their medicines by the end of Donald Trump’s term, while their production lines in the country are built.
As for those who apply “most favored nation” prices to their medicines sold in the US and commit to setting up factories there, they will simply be exempt from tariffs.
In addition, the White House’s representative at the US Trade Representatives Office announced the signing of a trade agreement with the UK, involving a price increase on medicines in exchange for no tariffs on those exported from the UK.
His decree regarding metals has imposed special rules, including foreign companies paying low tariffs on the purchase value of American products.
“This is simply a matter of simplification and fairness,” the official assured, also stating that there should be no consequences on prices for consumers.
Exactly one year ago, on what he presented as “liberation day,” the American president announced a series of tariffs applied to all products entering the US, with the intention of balancing the trade balance of the world’s largest economy.
At the same time, he imposed surtaxes targeting several specific industrial sectors, such as steel, aluminum, automotive, or copper, seen by the White House as strategically important.
The Supreme Court has since deemed many of these surtaxes unconstitutional, nullifying them, even though the government has announced the introduction of new tariffs, 10% this time, until the end of July. However, the decision did not affect sectoral tariffs, which remain in effect.
