Administration plans for pharmaceutical tariffs could raise prices, cause shortages

Trump administration plans to impose pharmaceutical tariffs could disrupt complex supply chains, result in foreign-made generic drugs leaving the U.S. market and cause shortages, health economists say. Consumers would pay more at the pharmacy and through higher insurance premiums. The president said he would delay tariffs for up to a year and a half to enable companies to stockpile medicine and shift manufacturing to the U.S. However, establishing pharmaceutical operations in the U.S. is expensive and can take several years. Companies also would not be exempt from taxes applied to imported ingredients used in medicine. While brand-name pharmaceutical companies can absorb tariffs, generic firms, comprising 92% of U.S. retail and mail-order pharmacy prescriptions, do not have the profit margins to do so, policy analysts say. (AP article, 9/2/25)