• Source:JND
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Trump Tariff on Medicines: The Indian pharmaceutical stocks experienced a dip of 2.6 per cent on Friday after US President Donald Trump announced a 100 per cent tariff on branded and patented drugs. The new tariff order will come into effect from October 1, potentially impacting India’s drug export to America.

In the aftermath of the tariff announcement by Trump, the stock market experienced a noticeable fall. As of 9:30 a.m. IST, the index saw a decline across all 20 constituents, with pharmaceutical giant Sun Pharmaceutical Industries leading the losses at 3.4 per cent.

Impact On India

Out of the total pharma exports, India sends slightly more than 1/3rd to America. Most of these pharma exports include cheaper generics, which rose by 20 per cent to about 10.5 billion dollars in fiscal 2025, Reuters reported.

Pakaj Pandey, ICICI Securities research analyst, said that the near-future impact of tariffs on India appears to be limited, as India mainly exports cheaper substances to America. "That being said, uncertainty still remains whether complex generics and biosimilars will come under tariff embargo in the future," said Pankaj.

The US President, Donald Trump, on Friday announced a 100 per cent tariff on branded and patented drugs, effective from October 1, 2025. The US President maintained, the additional charge will be levied until the company builds a manufacturing unit in the United States.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote, "Starting October 1st, 2025, we will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any branded or patented Pharmaceutical Product, unless a Company IS BUILDING their Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plant in America. 'IS BUILDING' will be defined as 'breaking ground' and/or 'under construction."

Clarifying the nuances of the order, Trump said that the companies that have started building their manufacturing unit in the US will be exempted from the impact of tariff revision.