Announcing 100% tariffs on drugs, 25% for trucks and 30% for furniture, scheduled to take effect on October 1, resuming the US president’s trade war.
President of the United States Donald Trump has announced a sudden new tariff on medicines, large quantities of trucks, and home renovations and furniture.
The announcement late Thursday marks the toughest trade plan from Trump since last April announced the shock of mutual tariffs on virtually all US trading partners worldwide, marking the revival of the Republican president’s trade war.
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Starting October 1, “We will impose 100% tariffs on brand or patented drugs unless the company is building a drug manufacturing plant in the United States,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social Platform.
Stocks of pharmaceutical companies across Asia, including South Korea’s Samsung Biology, fell on Friday, with significant exposure to the US market.
Trump’s move has been criticized by Australia. Australia exported an estimated $1.3 billion worth of medicines in 2024.
In another post, Trump wrote about the 25% tariff on all “heavy (big) trucks” made in other parts of the world, supporting US manufacturers such as “Peterbilt, Kenworth, Freightliner, Mac Truck, and more.”
Foreign companies competing with these manufacturers in the US market include Volvo in Sweden and Daimler in Germany. The shares of both companies were significantly lower in European after-hours trading.
Trump said tariffs on trucks were “for a number of reasons, but more than anything, for national security purposes!”
Earlier this year, the Trump administration launched an investigation into so-called Section 232 on truck imports to “determine the impact of national security,” setting the stage for Thursday’s announcement.
Section 232 is a trade law that gives the President a broad authority to impose tariffs or other restrictions on imports if deemed a threat to national security.
Trump also said a 50% tariff on home renovation materials and a 30% tariff on decorated furniture would be imposed as he allegedly overwhelmed the US market from overseas.
In 2022, imports primarily from Asia accounted for 60% of all furniture sold, including 86% of all wooden furniture and 42% of upholstered furniture.
Shares of home furniture retailers Wayfair and Williams Sonoma, which rely on these imports, fell over in trading outside of business hours.
Trump’s administration has already imposed a baseline 10% tariff on all countries, and higher individual charges in countries where exports to the US far exceed imports.
Trump is also using emergency powers to impose additional tariffs on trade trading partners Canada and Mexico, as well as China, citing concerns over fentanyl trafficking and undocumented migration.
It was not yet clear how these new tariffs would be considered in existing measures.
The European Union said Friday that its trade agreement with the US in July would protect the bloc’s drug exports from tariffs above 15%.
“This clear all-comprehensive 15% tariff cap for EU exports represents an insurance contract that does not present higher tariffs for European economic operators,” said trade spokesman Olov Gill.
The UK said it is pushing the US on drug tariffs in hopes of beneficial results.
