Trump’s Tariffs Are Driving Up Drug Costs - And There’s No Quick Fix

The Trump administration’s latest 15% tariff on pharmaceutical imports from the European Union is already pushing up prescription drug prices.

Europe supplies nearly half of the active ingredients in U.S. brand-name drugs, including cancer treatment drugs like Blincyto for childhood leukemia and Keytruda for lung cancer, Jiardiance for diabetes, Dupixant for COPD, and Beyfortus for RSV prevention in newborns and children.

As the tariffs kick in, drugmakers will pass the cost on to consumers through higher list prices, hitting patients at the pharmacy counter and raising insurance premiums and copays. Trump’s incoherent and erratic tariff policy will add $13 billion to drug costs once existing stockpiles run dry.

And Trump’s demand that European manufacturers relocate production to the U.S. ignores a critical reality: there’s no excess capacity here. Building a new pharmaceutical facility isn’t like flipping a switch. From design to regulatory approval, it takes 5 to 10 years to bring a new plant online – and that’s under optimal conditions. Even with aggressive deregulation by the Trump administration, just the design and construction alone can take two to three years.

In the meantime, drug companies may cut spending in essential areas like research and development just to absorb costs and keep shareholders calm.

Trump tariffs are destabilizing access to life-saving medications and increasing financial pressure on American families. Once again, Trump’s trade war rhetoric has real-world consequences, and ordinary people are left footing the bill.

Whether you're covering your kids’ medications, managing chronic illnesses, or caring for aging parents, this is a price hike that hits everyone’s home.

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