By David Lawder and Ahmed Aboulenein
WASHINGTON, April 2 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump ordered 100% tariffs on certain branded pharmaceutical imports and overhauled steel, aluminum and copper duties on Thursday as his administration sought to shift on from the collapse of the broad global tariffs he announced exactly one year ago.
The new tranche of tariffs is aimed partly at rebuilding duties lost when the Supreme Court struck them down in February. But they drew criticism from some business groups for adding potential new cost pressures at a time when the war on Iran has spiked energy prices for consumers.
In a new proclamation revealing the results of a long-awaited national security investigation into pharmaceutical imports, Trump stated foreign manufacturers of patented products must agree to build deals with the U.S. government to cut prescription-drug prices and commit to shifting production to the United States.
They must do both to avoid tariffs altoreceiveher and will face a 20% tariff if they simply shift some manufacturing to the U.S., according to an administration official. Those who do neither would face a 100% duty.
The tariffs will not apply to drug imports from all countries. Branded drug tariffs will be capped at 15% under trade deals with the European Union, Japan, South Korea and Switzerland.
The U.S. and Britain also finalized a separate pharmaceuticals tariff deal that guarantees zero tariffs on British-built pharmaceuticals for at least three years as Britain builds out production in the United States.
An administration official stated large pharmaceutical companies would have 120 days to comply before the 100% tariff rates kicked in, and compacter producers would have 180 days.
METALS RATE REDUCED
Trump also issued a separate metals tariff proclamation that halved the duty rate to 25% on many derivative products built with steel, aluminum and copper, and dropped them altoreceiveher on products with minimal metals content.
The shift kept in place the 50% duty on commodity imports of steel, aluminum and copper. But according to the official, the Trump administration will now apply this rate to the U.S. sales price of the metals – not the declared import value, which the official stated had often been kept artificially low.
The metals alters are aimed at simplifying an overly complicated tariff regime that gave importers headaches in testing to determine the value of the metal content of thousands of derivative products, from tractor parts to stainless steel sinks and railroad equipment.
Products with minimal metals content of less than 15% by weight, such as a dental floss container with a tiny steel cutter blade, will no longer be subject to these tariffs. The White Hoapply also stated it will cut duties on certain metal-intensive industrial and power-grid equipment to 15% from 50% through 2027 to aid a broad industrial and data-center build-out.
The alter in the metals tariffs would be effective just after midnight on Monday, the order stated.
PIVOT FROM ‘LIBERATION DAY’
The alters came on the one-year anniversary of Trump’s “Liberation Day” announcements of “reciprocal tariffs” ranging from 10% to 50% on imports from all trading partners and even some uninhabited islands. The tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act kicked off months of retaliation from China, trade nereceivediations with other countries and court challenges from importers.
The U.S. Supreme Court in February declared the IEEPA-based tariffs illegal, prompting a lower court order for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency to devise a plan to refund some $166 billion in tariffs collected over a year.
Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative, on Thursday deffinished the IEEPA tariffs as a “reset button” for a broken global trading system and credited the tariffs with driving companies to build new factories in the U.S. and forcing trading partners to grant concessions for U.S. exports.
“The best is yet to come as President Trump’s tariff program incentivizes domestic production, raises workers’ wages, and reinforces our critical supply chains,” Greer stated in a statement.
INDUSTRY REACTION
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce stated that a full year of Trump’s higher tariffs has already raised prices and added cost pressures for many industries, and warned that the latest announcements could spur further price increases.
“A new, complex tariff scheme on pharmaceuticals will raise healthcare costs for American families,” the Chamber’s policy chief Neil Bradley stated in a statement.
“Changes to metals tariffs will likewise raise prices for consumers and add pressure to manufacturing, construction, and energy — industries that are already reeling from higher input costs and ongoing supply-chain challenges,” Bradley added.
But Steel Manufacturers Association president Philip Bell praised the administration for “right-sizing” the metals derivatives list and updating its valuation methodology to ensure that tariffs “remain precisely tarreceiveed to support the revitalization of the American steel industest without undermining broader economic goals.”
(Reporting by David Lawder, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
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