Donald Trump’s Tariffs: Coming To Your Medicine Cabinet Soon

Forbes

The days of affordable prescription drugs —generics included — may soon come to an end thanks to President Trump’s aggressive tariffs and the global trade war they are inciting.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2025/04/08/trumps-tariffs-coming-to-your-medicine-cabinet-soon/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Today on Forbes, Trump's tariffs, coming to your medicine cabinet soon.

00:07On average, Americans pay about twice what other countries do for prescription drugs.

00:12Thanks to President Trump's aggressive tariffs and the global trade war they are inciting,

00:17they might soon pay even more.

00:20Last week, Trump made good on a core campaign promise to enact sweeping tariffs, slapping

00:25a baseline of 10% tax on imports from every country, with China, India and EU countries

00:31singled out for harsher rates.

00:34But as of Wednesday afternoon, Trump suddenly announced a pause on most reciprocal tariffs,

00:39except China, which he hit with a 125% levy, up from 104% a day earlier, after China enacted

00:46its own retaliatory tariff in an escalating trade war.

00:51Although pharmaceuticals are currently exempt, it's widely expected that won't last.

00:56In his remarks announcing tariffs last week, Trump said, quote, the pharmaceutical companies

01:01are going to come roaring back, because if they don't, they've got a big tax to pay.

01:06Suggesting it's only a question of when and how hard pharmaceutical tariffs will hit.

01:12When they do, one of the biggest losers would likely be generic drug manufacturers and, since

01:17they account for about 90% of all prescriptions in the United States, a huge segment of Americans

01:23who rely on them.

01:25About 47% of all generics prescribed in the US are made in India, which was facing a 26%

01:31tariff before Trump's pause announcement.

01:34Some, like common heart medications, cost less than a dollar a pill, a price that, if tariffed,

01:40might cause their manufacturers to reconsider the value proposition of making them.

01:44Rajiv Leventhal, a healthcare analyst at eMarketer, said, quote,

01:50Most of them are selling with low profit margins and some are operating at a loss.

01:54They could be forced to consider whether it's even worth it to be in the market.

01:58That could hurt consumers who rely on those low-cost alternatives to brand-name drugs for

02:03everything from antibiotics like penicillin to blood pressure medication.

02:08Mark Cuban, whose Cost Plus drug company manufactures and sells generic drugs, such as penicillin imported

02:14from Portugal, told Forbes that any costs elevated by tariffs will absolutely be passed through

02:20to patients.

02:22For some generics, costs could become excruciatingly high.

02:25ING analyst Diedrich Stadig estimated that a 24-week course of generic cancer medication could

02:32run as high as $10,000 under a 25% tariff.

02:37Name brand medications are likely to be hard hit as well.

02:41Weight loss medication Wegovi, cancer immunotherapy drug Keytruda, and HIV drug Norvir are manufactured

02:48in European Union countries, which were facing a 20% tariff.

02:53For a patient whose insurance doesn't cover Wegovi, that could mean an extra $100 a month

02:59if Novo Nordisk passed on the whole tariff cost.

03:03And a recent analysis published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggested

03:07that tariffs on Canadian pharmaceuticals alone would increase annual drug costs in the

03:12U.S. by $750 million a year.

03:16Even if a drug is manufactured in the United States, it could still be impacted by tariffs.

03:21Nearly 90% of American biotech companies rely on imported components for a significant portion

03:27of their FDA products, according to a survey from trade industry group Bio.

03:33Cancer drug Imbruvica, for example, imports a key ingredient from China, which also produces

03:38about 72% of the pharmaceutical ingredients imported to the U.S.

03:43That's unlikely to change anytime soon, because there's simply not enough domestic manufacturing

03:48capacity to meet demand.

03:51Nearly half of the responding biotechs said that finding alternative suppliers could take

03:56more than two years.

03:59Orr Inbar, CEO of consultancy service QuantHealth, notes that one consequence of a trade war is

04:04that if it snowballs, some larger pharma companies may find themselves building multiple manufacturing

04:10facilities across the globe to avoid tariffs.

04:14While that might help mitigate their impact, it would still raise costs.

04:17He said, quote, the more sites you have, the more overhead and management costs you have.

04:24And those costs would ultimately be passed on to consumers.

04:30For full coverage, check out Alex Knapp's piece on Forbes.com.

04:35This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes, thanks for tuning in.

04:39Kieran Meadows from Forbes, thanks for tuning in.

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