Pharma Exhales, Dodges Financial Blow With Tariff Exemption

Industry lobbing for pharmaceuticals to be exempt from President Trump’s sweeping US tariffs appears to have paid off.

Tariffs still could be added to pharmaceuticals later, analysts cautioned. (Shutterstock)
Key Takeaways
  • Pharmaceuticals are not subject to President Trump’s sweeping tariffs on most goods imported into the US, a reprieve for industry.
  • The situation remains fluid and tariffs still could be added to pharmaceuticals at a later date, some analysts cautioned.
  • Macroeconomic uncertainty caused by tariffs across sectors is expected to be an overhang on the high-risk area of drug development.

President Donald Trump’s remarks were not immediately clear, but it appears pharmaceuticals are exempt from a sweeping US tariff plan that targets almost all other goods and most American trading...

The executive order that Trump outlined on 2 April exempted a few products from the tariffs, including “copper, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, lumber articles, certain critical minerals, and energy products.”

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