Trump's Pharma Tariff Hammer Set to Fall: Drugmakers Without Pricing Deals Face 100% Duties

Intelligent Finance APP learned that, according to media reports citing messages disclosed by insiders, the Trump administration is expected to announce as early as Thursday local time that it will impose hefty tariffs on pharmaceutical companies that have not yet reached agreements to ensure low drug prices in the U.S. market. This is the latest move in its taxation on imported goods on the grounds of national security. Insiders revealed that companies without agreements or negotiations with the government would be subject to a 100% tariff.

U.S. President Donald Trump has been threatening over the past year to impose hefty tariffs on the global pharmaceuticals industry, with rates possibly ranging between 100% and 200%. The aim is to pressure pharmaceutical companies to relocate their production lines back to the United States and reduce drug prices for American patients. Most large multinational pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer and Eli Lilly, have reached agreements with the White House to secure tariff exemptions lasting up to three years. This includes Pfizer and Eli Lilly, among others, which have entered into various agreements with the White House to avoid such tariffs through measures like price reductions, participation in TrumpRx.gov, or expanding U.S.-based manufacturing.

Pfizer and AstraZeneca have been described as having secured multi-year tariff exemptions through pricing agreements and commitments via TrumpRx.gov, while Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, and Merck are described as having committed to billions of dollars in U.S.-based production expansion investments to avoid penalties. In other words, the commonly mentioned "reached an agreement with the White House" in the market may, in practice, include several types of arrangements: direct price reduction agreements, joining the TrumpRx platform, increasing U.S. manufacturing investments, or a combination of these measures.

These new tariff laws stem from an investigation initiated by the White House under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act. Companies that have not reached any agreement and are not in direct negotiations with the Trump administration will face a 100% tariff, according to sources familiar with the matter. These sources requested anonymity as the discussions have not been made public.

Since September 30, 2025, the Trump administration has announced agreements with 16 large multinational pharmaceutical companies to push U.S. drug prices closer to the lower levels of other developed countries. According to informed sources, these plans have not yet been finalized and some changes at the detail level could still occur. They also indicated that certain scarce drugs and special medications covering specific disease categories might be exempted. The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Since Trump began rolling out his tariff agenda, he has been discussing issues related to the supply of pharmaceuticals in the U.S. market, and in exchange for promises of tariff relief, he has sought significant concessions from pharmaceutical companies regarding domestic manufacturing in the U.S. and drug cost reductions. The industry had not previously been included in his radical global reciprocal tariffs set to take effect in 2025; these tariffs were overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in February this year. However, the Trump administration chose to bypass Congressional procedures, imposing a 15% tariff on imports under the guise of "interim replacement measures" in an attempt to fill the gap left by the Supreme Court’s ruling that the previous tariff policy was unlawful.

Just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to overturn the Trump administration's large-scale tariff measures implemented under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), Trump signed an executive order announcing a new 15% tariff on imported goods based on Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act (the "Balance of Payments Adjustment Provision"), with an effective period not exceeding 150 days.