Government circles: New US pharmaceutical tariffs to start later
Keystone-SDA
According to government circles, the new tariffs on pharmaceutical imports into the US announced by US President Donald Trump for October 1 will not be imposed after all. This was announced by a high-ranking government official to the German Press Agency.
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Instead, tariffs are now being prepared against pharmaceutical companies that do not want to relocate their production to the US or lower prices. No specific reasons for the postponement were given.
Last week, President Trump surprised many experts by announcing new tariffs. From October 1, imports of branded and patented medicines into the US were to be subject to a 100% surcharge. Pharmaceutical manufacturers who build a production facility in the US would be able to avoid the tariff. He left the details open.
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Swiss pharma invests billions in the US
Swiss pharmaceutical companies had already announced investment programmes worth billions in the US in the spring. Last week, Roche once again referred to plans by its subsidiary Genentech in North Carolina and to a total investment of $50 billion (CHF40 billion) for expansion and research. Novartis plans to invest $23 billion in its US site over the next five years. The production company Lonza also emphasised its large US presence with plants in California and North Carolina.
Analysts stated that Swiss companies are well prepared with their US investments. The equity market experts at Bank J. Safra Sarasin wrote that the tariffs may look worse than they actually are.
The pharmaceutical associations were more alarmist. They warned of far-reaching risks from the tariffs, should they actually materialise. Interpharma spoke of an “ultimate wake-up call” and warned that punitive tariffs could have a massive impact on supply chains and research.
Translated from German by DeepL/jdp
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