Trump says ‘major’ pharmaceutical tariffs on the way

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that pharmaceutical imports will soon be hit with “major” tariffs as part of his efforts to drive manufacturing back to the U.S.

Drug imports evaded the first round of tariffs that Trump imposed on countries around the world, but the president said they will not be spared.

“We’re going to be announcing very shortly a major tariff on pharmaceuticals,” he said at a dinner of the National Republican Congressional Committee. “And when they hear that, they will leave China. They will leave other places because they have to sell — most of their product is sold here and they’re going to be opening up their plants all over the place.”

Domestic drug manufacturing has shrunk dramatically in recent decades. Most production of active pharmaceutical ingredients has moved to China and other countries, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

Trump announced global tariffs of 10 percent on hundreds of countries on April 2 and additional reciprocal levies are scheduled to start Wednesday, including a minimum 104 percent tariff on Chinese imports.

The president gave no details on the pharmaceutical tariffs.

Trump unleashed a sweeping slate of tariffs on friends and foes alike last week, sending stocks plunging and roiling the global economy. He’s doubled down in the days since.

The president used his speech to Republican lawmakers promote his economic agenda, a wholesale realignment of trade with the ultimate vision of bringing factories and investment back into the country.

“Companies are pouring back into our country with plants,” he said.

Trump has faced brewing opposition to the tariffs inside his own party. Democrats, meanwhile, think the issue be a boon for them as they look ahead to next year’s midterms. The blowback has gotten so bad that a bipartisan group of senators last Thursday announced a bid to claw back some of his tariff power.