Trump's pharma tariffs would raise US drug costs by $51 billion annually, report finds

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

More Trump tariff madness...  As the article below further notes, about 30% of pharmaceutical imports to the U.S. in 2023 were ingredients used in U.S. manufacturing and then exported or sold in the United States. Meaning slapping tariffs on those imports would in turn hurt the competitiveness of, and raise prices for, the U.S.'s own domestic drug production.

 

Encourage and promote U.S. domestic drug production, yes. But slap costly tariffs on imported drugs or raw materials and then raise drug prices for U.S. consumers, no thanks!!!

 

Reuters

 

April 25, 2025

 

• Report commissioned by main US pharma lobby
• Warns 25% pharma tariff would add $51 bln a year to US drug costs - report estimates
• If fully passed on, tariffs would boost US drug prices by 12.9%

 

LONDON, April 25 (Reuters) - A 25% U.S. tariff on pharmaceutical imports would increase U.S. drug costs by nearly $51 billion annually, boosting U.S. prices by as much as 12.9% if passed on, a report commissioned by the industry's U.S. trade group and reviewed by Reuters shows.

 

The analysis, conducted by Ernst & Young, found the United States imported $203 billion in pharmaceutical products in 2023, with 73% coming from Europe -- primarily Ireland, Germany and Switzerland. Total U.S. sales of finished pharmaceuticals that year were $393 billion.

...

Pharmaceutical products have long been spared from trade wars due to the potential harms, but he [Trump] has repeatedly threatened a 25% tariff on pharmaceutical imports. Last week, the Trump administration announced probes into pharmaceutical imports, citing national security concerns over reliance on foreign drug production.

 

(more)

 

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-pharma-tariffs-would-raise-us-drug-costs-by-51-bln-annually-report-finds-2025-04-25/

 

 

 

[Lacessit]

Obviously, the cost of pharmaceuticals in the USA is still not enough for the average person.

[placeholder]

7 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Obviously, the cost of pharmaceuticals in the USA is still not enough for the average person.

Well, it's like marijuana. If it costs more, that probably means it's more effective.

[NoDisplayName]

Lucky for us, the big pharmaceuticals won't pass on the higher costs of these ingredients to the consumer.

 

These tariffs are paid by the exporting country, not taxes paid by the end user.

 

Trump is such a genius, I'ma bet this will result in a reduction in health insurance premiums!

 

Winning!©

 

 

[worgeordie]

Trump says your going to have a bit pain , now you could really

have some pain ,if you cannot afford the medizine , Biden  brought

the cost of medicines down for people , Trump puts them up ,who

voted for that.

 

regards worgeordie 

[impulse]

7 hours ago, worgeordie said:

Biden  brought the cost of medicines down for people

 

That's a huge lie.  Exactly what medicines went down under Biden?  Where's the list?

 

Out of the thousands of medicines in the pharmacies, he negotiated lower prices on 10 of them, to kick in a few years from now.  As for insulin, Trump had already gotten that price down with an EO.  Biden rescinded that EO, then bragged about getting the price down to the same level.

 

[placeholder]

28 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

That's a huge lie.  Exactly what medicines went down under Biden?  Where's the list?

 

Out of the thousands of medicines in the pharmacies, he negotiated lower prices on 10 of them, to kick in a few years from now.  As for insulin, Trump had already gotten that price down with an EO.  Biden rescinded that EO, then bragged about getting the price down to the same level.

 

You know, before you accuse others of lying, you might want to consider doing a search to see if your claim is true. As, for instance, in the present case:

 

"But whereas the Trump program applied only to certain Medicare Part D plans, the act mandated that all Medicare drug programs cap out-of-pocket insulin costs — including those in what’s known as Medicare Part B, which pays for medical equipment such as insulin pumps. The act’s insulin provisions took effect Jan. 1, 2023, for Part D plans and July 1 of that year for Part B.

The act also mandated that the out-of-pocket price cap apply to all insulin products a given Medicare plan covers, not just a subset."

https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/fact-check-trump-lower-insulin-prices-false/

[impulse]

6 minutes ago, placeholder said:

You know, before you accuse others of lying, you might want to consider doing a search to see if your claim is true. As, for instance, in the present case:

 

"But whereas the Trump program applied only to certain Medicare Part D plans, the act mandated that all Medicare drug programs cap out-of-pocket insulin costs — including those in what’s known as Medicare Part B, which pays for medical equipment such as insulin pumps. The act’s insulin provisions took effect Jan. 1, 2023, for Part D plans and July 1 of that year for Part B.

The act also mandated that the out-of-pocket price cap apply to all insulin products a given Medicare plan covers, not just a subset."

https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/fact-check-trump-lower-insulin-prices-false/

 

I guess you missed the part about only applying to Medicare. 

 

And where's that list of the medicines that Biden made more affordable?

 

 

[placeholder]

7 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

I guess you missed the part about only applying to Medicare. 

 

And where's that list of the medicines that Biden made more affordable?

 

 

I'm not sure what you mean. Trump's order only applied to certain groups covered by Part D Medicare. Biden's order applied to all of Medicare.

 

As for the list, did you bother to search for it?

[Lacessit]

Venclexta is a targeted inhibitor.

 

It is manufactured in Chicago and Sligo, Ireland.

 

In Australia, the PBS means a year's supply costs AUD 100. Leftist government reform.

 

In America, the same year's supply would cost USD 70,000.

 

If imported into the US from Ireland, even more.

 

Americans seem to be bent on screwing themselves. But but freedumb!!

[impulse]

31 minutes ago, placeholder said:

I'm not sure what you mean. Trump's order only applied to certain groups covered by Part D Medicare. Biden's order applied to all of Medicare.

 

As for the list, did you bother to search for it?

 

You keep getting caught up in the weeds.  The lie is that Biden took on Big Pharma and made them lower prices.  The truth is that they negotiated prices on 10 (count 'em 10, of the thousands of drugs), and those lower prices kick in starting in 2026.

 

Any lower prices won’t take effect for three years, and the path forward could be further complicated by litigation from drugmakers and heavy criticism from Republicans.

 

10 drugs targeted for Medicare price negotiations as Biden pitches cost reductions | AP News  

 

Edit:  BTW, here's the wingnut conspiracy guy in me... I'd bet that those 10 drugs were about to come off patent and drop in price anyway.  I'm taking a drug (Omeprazole) that costs me about 5 baht that used to cost several dollars when it was still on patent as Prilosec.

 

 

[placeholder]

49 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

You keep getting caught up in the weeds.  The lie is that Biden took on Big Pharma and made them lower prices.  The truth is that they negotiated prices on 10 (count 'em 10, of the thousands of drugs), and those lower prices kick in starting in 2026.

 

Any lower prices won’t take effect for three years, and the path forward could be further complicated by litigation from drugmakers and heavy criticism from Republicans.

 

10 drugs targeted for Medicare price negotiations as Biden pitches cost reductions | AP News  

 

Edit:  BTW, here's the wingnut conspiracy guy in me... I'd bet that those 10 drugs were about to come off patent and drop in price anyway.  I'm taking a drug (Omeprazole) that costs me about 5 baht that used to cost several dollars when it was still on patent as Prilosec.

 

 

First off, I've noticed that you dropped your insistence that Biden didn't enlarge the coverage for lowering the cost of insulin. In fact, I believe you called that a "huge lie". So, was it a lie or not?

. During his first 2 years, Biden had the barest majority possible in the Senate. No Republicans in either the House or Senate voted for it. So Biden had to lower the goalposts. So that meant accepting the delay on instituting lower prices.

And here's something you've apparently forgotten. In 2016 Trump campaigned on allowing Medicare to negotiate prices. He reneged on that promise after the election.

And there's this:

 

Trump Reverses Some Biden Drug Pricing Initiatives, Potentially Impacting Medicare Costs

President Donald J. Trump’s second-term health care agenda is taking shape with a clear focus on undoing several Biden-era policies.1 On Inauguration Day, January 20, 2025, Trump signed an executive order reversing initiatives aimed at reducing prescription drug costs for Medicare and Medicaid recipients, expanding the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and increasing protections for Medicaid enrollees. However, experts suggest that the changes may have little immediate impact on out-of-pocket (OOP) health care costs for most Americans.

https://www.ajmc.com/view/trump-reverses-some-biden-drug-pricing-initiatives-potentially-impacting-medicare-costs

 

And this:

Trump Just Caved to Big Pharma—Again': New Order Aims to Delay Drug Price Negotiations

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order that aims to delay Medicare negotiations for a broad category of prescription drugs, handing the deep-pocketed pharmaceutical industry a major win as it lobbies aggressively against efforts to rein in its pricing power.

Trump's order, titled "Lowering Drug Prices by Once Again Putting Americans First," instructs Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to work with Congress to "modify" the Medicare drug price negotiation program that was established under the Biden administration and has already yielded significant results despite pharma companies' best efforts to block it in court.

Specifically, Trump calls for a four-year extension of the period during which small-molecule prescription drugs are exempt from price negotiations with Medicare.

https://www.ajmc.com/view/trump-reverses-some-biden-drug-pricing-initiatives-potentially-impacting-medicare-costs