No Immunity For Drug Makers As Trump Prescribes New Pharmaceutical Tariffs
Drug manufacturers face a bitter pill to swallow as Trump’s tariff threats mutate to new sectors. At a fundraising gala Tuesday, the President announced that pharmaceutical tariffs are coming “very shortly” — leaving a longstanding recession-proof sanctuary looking suddenly ill as theIXJ Global Healthcare ETF plunged 2.4% intraday yesterday before Trump put a 90-day delay on tariffs.
- Shipping $13B in pharmaceuticals annually, India’s most successful industrial export stands threatened — while Europe’s Novo NordiskNVO, SanofiSNY, and RocheRHHVF fell 1.4%, 0.8%, and 0.3% respectively during intraday trading before the announcement.
- “They’re going to come rushing back,” declared Trump, saying, “We don’t make pharmaceuticals anymore, and if we have problems like wars … we need pharmaceuticals” — all while the US faces an unprecedented drug shortage crisis.
Side effects may include: Despite Biden and Trump prioritizing pharmaceutical reshoring, overseas competition has driven prices to unprofitable levels. The New York Times warns that even with tariffs, the US can’t realistically replace supply chains in the short term — and since medications represent an “inelastic demand,” consumers will simply pay higher prices rather than go without their prescriptions. No one is immune to this trade war fever, but patients may suffer the most acute symptoms.