Trump sets 100% tariff on generic drugs with two-year delay

Published Wed, Jul 22, 2026 · 10:23 AM

[LOS ANGELES] Generic drug manufacturers will have two years to move production to the US or face a 100 per cent import duty from August 2028, US President Donald Trump said in a social media post on Tuesday (Jul 21).

That levy would then double a year later, to 200 per cent, in August 2029.

“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 the post. 

Trump has seized on the cost of drugs as a key driver of affordability concerns ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

He has long complained about differences between what consumers pay in the US compared to foreign markets, and has repeatedly sought to cut that gap.

The administration also recently launched a direct-to-consumer discount drug sales platform it branded as TrumpRX.

The White House has repeatedly set delayed tariff implementation dates with a looming deadline of devastating consequence as a means of creating leverage for future deals with countries and companies alike. 

The president has urged pharmaceutical companies to manufacture more of their medicines in the US, and in April 2025 his administration began a probe of the industry on national security grounds under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act.

Trump said his administration’s tariff plans related to patented drugs would remain unchanged.

That plan would seek tariffs of as much as 100 per cent on certain imported medicines, though with several major exceptions. 

Most of the world’s biggest drugmakers, including Merck and Eli Lilly sidestepped the punitive moves by striking agreements with the administration.

Generic makers in crosshairs

Makers of generic drugs have fewer options.

Unlike makers of patented medicines, they compete on thin margins and rely on global manufacturing networks, making it far harder to absorb tariffs.

Chief executive officer Richard Saynor of Sandoz Group, one of the world’s largest generic producers, warned in 2025 that America’s shift towards steep tariffs was likely to make drugs more expensive and limit access for patients. 

The Swiss company, along with competitors Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and Viatris, copies branded medications once they lose patent protection.

It manufactures many of its generic medicines outside the US, with plants in Canada and Austria. 

Among the US’ trading partners, the hit would be most significant to India, which is the biggest exporter of generic medicines to the US.

Pharmaceuticals are among India’s top three exports to America, totalling US$10.5 billion in 2024 to 2025, according to the country’s commerce ministry.

Duties on drugs would leave over 40 per cent of India’s exports to the US adversely affected, adding to existing levies on steel, aluminum and autos.

Still, it was immediately unclear how much of Trump’s new tariff Indian drug companies will face: A trade pact struck by the two countries in February stipulated that India would “receive negotiated outcomes with respect to generic pharmaceuticals and ingredients”.  

Trump’s previous threats to impose tariffs on pharma imports put cheap supplies from India at risk, with commonly prescribed oral contraceptives, hypertension and depression treatments at the top of the list, according to an earlier Bloomberg News analysis of data provided by health care intelligence firm Symphony Health. 

In the case of birth control, roughly 65 per cent of all pill prescriptions in the US in 2024 were manufactured by just two India-based companies, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals and Lupin, it found. 

Separately, the White House has been working to replace Trump’s emergency duties after they were deemed unlawful by the US Supreme Court earlier in 2026.

An across-the-board rate of 10 per cent is set to expire on Friday, and the administration is expected to impose levies on products from dozens of trading partners, citing what it said were lax forced labour standards, before the end of the week. BLOOMBERG