Hi,

Today, we bring you a timely analysis on the potential impact of proposed pharma tariffs by President Trump. While it is not clear whether this will come to pass, the tariff threat and other proposed measures are having a cascading impact on either side of the Atlantic and beyond.

This potentially touches nearly everything in global health from drug prices, production costs, and also adding uncertainty and playing into the ongoing negotiations around the Pathogen Access and Benefits Sharing mechanism at WHO.

This is a developing story - so we present an analysis on the evolving pharma tariff issue as a snapshot of things currently unfolding across the U.S., Europe and India.

My colleague Niranjan Jose expertly connects the dots in this comprehensive analysis. Jose, is a part of the annual Geneva Health Files fellowship program. He is studying international law at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, specializing in trade, climate governance, and emerging technologies.

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More later.

Best,

Priti

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I. GHF ANALYSIS

Unpacking Trump’s Pharma Strategy

By Niranjan Jose

Priti Patnaik contributed to this story

Jose is an international law candidate at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, specializing in trade, climate governance, and emerging technologies. He can be reached at nirjose93@gmail.com.

On September 25, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the United States will impose a 100% tariff on imports of any “branded or patented” pharmaceutical products, effective October 1, 2025.

There are two primary ways to avoid the 100% tariff. First, a company can qualify for an exemption if it is “building” a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in the U.S., with construction having started by the time of import. The President’s announcement mentions that projects that have broken ground or are otherwise under active construction meet this requirement.

Already there are indications, that President Trump may revisit the tariff issue for pharma. Irrespective, in this story we closely examine the potential impacts of such tariffs on the access to medicines. We also bring you comments from the World Health Organization, the World Trade Organization, from activists and trade lawyers to help our readers understand the potential consequences of such measures on production, access and supply chains. We also discuss the internal drug pricing dynamics in the U.S.