Washington, DC [US], April 3 : The United States has announced sweeping new trade measures targeting patented pharmaceutical imports and metals, as President Donald Trump signed two significant executive actions.
Under the new framework on Thursday, a 100% tariff will apply to patented drug imports from countries, including India, that have neither signed a reshoring agreement with the US Commerce Department nor a Most Favoured Nation (MFN) pricing deal with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
A senior White House official said the measure was designed to reduce America's dependence on foreign nations for essential medicines. The official further told ANI, "100% tariff is on patented products. Any patented drug imports from India made by companies that do not get approved for a reshoring plan will be subject to a 100% tariff."
Generic medicines are currently exempt, though officials cautioned this could change if the generics industry does not move production back to the United States swiftly enough.
"Generics, which are the majority of Indian pharma exports, are exempt from tariffs, but the Commerce Department will evaluate the state of generics reshoring and re-evaluate generics tariffs accordingly," the official further told ANI.
The tariff comes into effect on July 31 for larger companies and September 29 for smaller ones.
Five country groupings have been offered preferential rates. The European Union, Japan, South Korea, and Switzerland will each face a 15% tariff. The United Kingdom, whose major pharmaceutical companies, including GSK, have already signed reshoring and MFN agreements, will face a lower rate of 10%, with the expectation that this could eventually reach zero.
The administration also announced changes to how existing tariffs on steel, aluminium, and copper are calculated, a revision that will have direct implications for Indian metal exporters.
For products that contain these metals, the rules have been simplified. Goods where the metal content accounts for less than 15% of the product's weight will attract no separate metals tariff, facing only the standard country-level duty. Where metal content exceeds 15% by weight, a flat 25% tariff will apply to the full product value, irrespective of the precise metal composition.
Thursday's announcements coincide with the first anniversary of Trump's so-called "Liberation Day," the moment last year when the president unveiled a sweeping global tariff plan that sent shockwaves through international markets and fundamentally reshaped the landscape of world trade.
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