When European drugmakers promoted billions of dollars in investments to build manufacturing plants in the United States earlier this year, they had hoped to gain immunity from President Trump’s tariff threats.
Those plans appear to have paid off. Mr. Trump’s announcement on Thursday of 100 percent tariffs on brand-name drugs imported to the United States contained a carve out for drugmakers that were already building new factories in the country.
Although some European officials and companies appeared confident on Friday that existing trade agreements and investments would shield them from this exceedingly high tariff rate, others were cautiously awaiting further details. As with many aspects of Mr. Trump’s turbulent trade policy, key information on how the new levies would be put in place has not yet been revealed.
Still, the pharmaceutical companies and their investors believe that Mr. Trump’s tariff announcement will potentially have little effect on them.
On Friday, Novartis, one of the world’s biggest drugmakers, said that a new pharmaceutical tariff “should have no impact” on its activities, pointing to a $23 billion investment in U.S. infrastructure and the construction of new sites in the country.
“We are working to ensure that all major Novartis medicines for U.S. patients are manufactured in the U.S.,” the Swiss-based company said in a statement. “Against this backdrop, the announced 100 percent tariff should have no impact on Novartis.”
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