President Donald Trump responds to inquiries after signing an executive action to curtail postal voting within the White House’s Oval Office, March 31, 2026, in Washington.Alex Wong/Getty Images
President Donald Trump on Thursday imposed levies of 100% on select pharmaceutical items, escalating his drive to bolster U.S. drug production.
The measure, executed via an executive order, is aimed at patented medications lacking a "most favored nations" pricing arrangement with the U.S. Through these agreements, companies assure that the U.S. will disburse an equal sum that other affluent nations pay for analogous treatments.
Firms encounter a diminished charge if they consent to transfer manufacturing operations to the U.S. or engage in pricing accords with the administration, the executive order states.
If businesses pledge to relocate their production to the United States, then the levy on their commodities will descend to 20%, the directive indicates.
President Donald Trump answers questions after signing an executive order to limit mail-in voting in the Oval Office of the White House, March 31, 2026 in Washington.Alex Wong/Getty Images
In the circumstance that such firms also enter into a most-favored-nation agreement with the Department of Health and Human Services, they can completely bypass tariffs while in the process of constructing a U.S.-based facility, as per the executive order.
The executive order stipulates that large corporations will be granted a 120-day initiation period prior to the levies taking effect.
The recent wave of tariffs will exclude medications manufactured in particular nations that had previously entered into commerce pacts with the U.S., encompassing Switzerland, Japan, South Korea, and the 27 nations within the European Union, the order reveals.
As the order specifies, pharmaceutical items originating from those nations will be subjected to a 15% tariff, aligned with the terms of commerce agreements established with the U.S.
ABC News' Mary Kekatos assisted in the composition of this article.
Sourse: abcnews.go.com