By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON, July 21 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said on Tuesday all generic drugs being brought into the U.S. will continue having a tariff of 0% for two years starting from August 1, after which the tariff rate will be raised to 100% for one year and to 200% thereafter.
• “This is done in order to RESHORE Generic Pharmaceutical Production into America, with a penalty to those Companies that decide not to build Plant and Equipment within the stated period of time given to them,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
• Trump has been pressuring drugmakers through his most-favored-nation drug pricing policy to lower prices to what people pay in other high-income countries.
• More than 90% of medicines sold in the U.S. are generics, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
• The policy on patented, branded, or innovative drugs will remain unchanged, Trump said.
• The world’s biggest drugmakers signed deals with the U.S. government last year that exempted billions of dollars of drugs from tariffs.
• Trump signed an executive order in April imposing 100% tariffs on branded pharmaceuticals imported into the U.S. unless manufacturers agree to government drug pricing deals or commit to making their products domestically.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Tom Hogue and Sonali Paul)
