AFTER seemingly escaping US President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs, pharmaceutical companies around the world are now bracing for what Trump has called a "major tariff on pharmaceuticals".
"We are going to tariff our pharmaceuticals and once we do that they're going to come rushing back into our country because we're the big market," Trump was reported as saying at a Republican Party fundraiser yesterday.
The US imports large amounts of medicines from India, Europe and China without buyers paying tariffs, thanks to a 1995 WTO agreement aimed at keeping medicines affordable.
Global pharma stocks have dropped across the board in response to the news.
Stocks in major Australian exporter CSL dropped to $233.62 at close of trading yesterday before rallying to $241.56 as we went to press.
Trump has not said when and by how much he plans to raise levies on pharma imports.
Given the complexity of the pharma supply chain, some experts have questioned whether the industry would make any major changes, or simply ride out the current US administration.
Meanwhile, US consumers are likely to bear the brunt of increased costs.
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