Trump pharma tariff seen as needle prick for China, disruptive for U.S.

Threat to add 25% levy on global imports raises concerns over prices and shortages

20250221 China's pharmaceutical exports to US

China is one of the top pharmaceutical exporters to the U.S., raising concerns about overreliance as well as potential side effects from new tariffs. (Nikkei montage/Reuters photo)

STELLA YIFAN XIE

HONG KONG -- U.S. President Donald Trump's latest threat to impose steep blanket tariffs on a range of imports that includes drugs underscores another key friction point in the economic rivalry between Washington and Beijing: America's reliance on Chinese medical supplies.

Trump last week said he was considering new duties of around 25% on pharmaceutical products, along with automobiles and semiconductors, as early as April. The tariff rates will "go very substantially higher over a course of a year," he said, but companies that set up domestic facilities would be exempted.

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