Citing other priorities—such as the upcoming U.S.-Russia summit—four anonymous sources claim that pharma tariffs could still be weeks away, according to Reuters.
Despite months of threats that have ramped up in recent weeks, President Donald Trump’s sector specific tariffs on pharma are likely still weeks away, according to Wednesday report from Reuters.
Citing sources familiar with the matter, the publication indicated that the results of an ongoing Section 232 national security investigation on pharma imports, as well as the final announcement of tariffs, are likely to come after the government’s final word on semiconductor tariffs, which is not imminent. Reuters’ spoke to four anonymous sources, including a government official in Europe, someone with knowledge of internal happenings at the White House and two people at European drug companies.
The White House source said that the government is preoccupied with other priorities, so an announcement on tariffs is unlikely to be made this week. Sources at the drug companies backed this up, noting that Trump officials are busy with an upcoming summit between the U.S. and Russia in Alaska.
Meanwhile, the European government official said that tariffs are unlikely to be unveiled within the month, though the source nevertheless cautioned that timelines could still shift.
Trump has been threatening the pharma industry for months now, and in recent weeks has made the matter top-of-mind once again with fresh warnings. In early July, he told reporters at a cabinet meeting that pharma imports could be hit with 200% levies, though he also hinted at a grace period of “a year, a year and a half” to allow companies to adjust their supply chains.
Last week, however, Trump upped the ante and said that pharma tariffs could hit as high as 250%.
Trump in July also arrived at a trade deal with the European Union, which sets the tariffs on pharma imports from the EU at 15%. Analysts expect even this relatively modest levy to cost the industry up to $19 billion in added expenses, but Jefferies has taken a more optimistic view of this announcement: 15% is “less bad” than what Trump had previously threatened and will have a “manageable” impact on companies, they wrote in a July 28 note.
Running in parallel to trade talks and Trump’s public threats is the Department of Commerce’s Section 232 investigation, which Secretary Howard Lutnick launched in April and which will culminate in a report to the president, who will then decide whether to impose various trade restrictions, including tariffs. According to Reuters’ reporting on Wednesday, Lutnick said last month that the probe could be finished by the end of the July, before pushing back his own deadline by two weeks.
Faced with the threat of tariffs, several of the biggest pharma players have pumped billions of dollars into the U.S. to bolster their domestic manufacturing operations, including Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca and Roche.
