Trump says incoming pharma tariff may go as high as 250%

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that upcoming tariffs on imported pharmaceuticals could reach 250 percent, after starting at a lower level, while adding he plans to also unveil fresh duties on foreign semiconductors.

“We’ll be putting (an) initially small tariff on pharmaceuticals, but in one year, one-and-a-half years, maximum, it’s going to go to 150 percent,” Trump said in an interview on CNBC.

“And then it’s going to go to 250 percent because we want pharmaceuticals made in our country,” he added.

In the same interview, Trump said he expects to raise the US tariff on Indian imports “very substantially over the next 24 hours” due to the country’s purchases of Russian oil.

While Trump has taken aim at products from different countries with varying tariff rates after imposing a 10-percent levy on almost all trading partners in April, these have excluded certain products he planned to target separately.

These sector-specific tariffs have generally come after government investigations that look into the national security concerns surrounding certain imports.

After earlier embarking on probes on imported semiconductors and pharmaceuticals, the Trump administration has signaled plans to wrap up these studies which could lead to new tariffs.

Already, Trump has slapped steep tariffs of 50 percent on imported steel and aluminum, and also rolled out a separate but lower duty on autos and parts.