The Trump administration is marking the anniversary of “Liberation Day” by placing new tariffs on certain drugs and revamping its tariffs on key metals.
Makers of brand-name drugs who refuse the US’ demands to lower prices and relocate manufacturing to the US will face tariffs of 100%, while those who have met both will not be tariffed. Those who have agreed only to relocate manufacturing will be tariffed at 20%.
“We’ve gotten the big deals done,” a senior administration official said.
While unprocessed steel, aluminum and copper will still be tariffed at 50%, products made with those metals will be tariffed between 10% and 25%. Those made with less than 15% by weight won’t be tariffed.
Officials imposed the tariffs under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, which allows the president to stand up levies related to national security after conducting investigations.
The senior administration official denied that concerns over affordability spurred the decision, telling reporters it was instead targeted at eliminating loopholes: “These will not have an impact on the price of the goods on the shelf” because “foreign companies were artificially manipulating the price that was presented to us … so they’d pay a lower tariff.”