WASHINGTON, D.C. — July 22, 2026 — The Consumer Choice Center (CCC) today warned that the White House’s newly announced tariff schedule on generic medicines will raise costs and undermine the administration’s own goal of lowering drug prices for Americans.
On Tuesday, President Trump announced that all generic drugs entering the United States will remain tariff-free for two years from Aug. 1, after which the rate jumps to 100% for one year and 200% thereafter, under Section 232 authority, as a penalty for manufacturers that do not build U.S. plants within the grace period.
“A 200% tariff on generics is a tax dressed up as industrial policy,” said Fred Roeder, Health Economist and Managing Director of the Consumer Choice Center. “Medicines, no matter if generic or branded ones, should never be instrumentalized as a trade weapon. Currently, nine out of ten drugs prescribed in the US are generics. Nearly two-thirds of these drugs are imported from overseas.”
“The only silver lining of this announcement is that the tariff will only be introduced in two years to give manufacturers time to reshore generic production capacity to the US. It is, however, very questionable whether many manufacturers will be able to produce low-margin generics stateside. Even if there’s a large ramp-up of domestic generics production, the prices in 2028 will likely be higher than today’s prices. A loss for patients and public finances for sure,” Roeder continued.
The CCC also noted the policy contradicts the administration’s stated agenda. The White House has pressured drugmakers through its most-favored-nation (MFN) policy to lower U.S. prices to those paid by patients in other high-income countries. “You can’t demand cheaper medicines while slapping a 200% import tax on the cheapest medicines Americans already have,” said Roeder.