How Pharmaceutical Tariffs Will Affect US Health Care Costs – AEI
“Tariffs on pharmaceuticals are under consideration following a Section 232 investigation into imports of medicines and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). With US imports in 2024 totaling $210.8 billion in finished medicines and $36.2 billion in APIs, the threat of tariffs puts nearly $250 billion in trade at risk. Tariffs could raise list or net prices for pharmaceuticals, drive up insurance premiums, increase the risk of drug shortages, elevate costs for US producers using imported APIs, and reduce the competitiveness of US exports of finished drugs…
“Given broad public interest in lowering, not raising, the cost of pharmaceuticals in the United States, such a policy is certainly ill-advised.”