APIs Will Be Covered in Pharmaceutical Tariff

A White House official said that active pharmaceutical ingredients imported into the U.S. for medicine manufacturing will be covered by the Section 232 tariffs on branded pharmaceuticals.

The details of the action have not been published in the Federal Register, nor is there a date they will start. The president had once said Oct. 1, but Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said companies were being given time to negotiate (see 2510020033) on whether they will sell patented drugs in the U.S. at the same price they sell them in Europe or Canada.

Some members of Congress have argued that the greater national security threat is generic drugs, which are the vast majority of prescriptions in America, but a small slice of spending. India is a dominant producer of generic drugs, but China is the source of some vitamins and medicines, and it supplies Indian manufacturers with many active pharmaceutical ingredients.