United States – The China trade war has put a shadow on drugs produced by American pharmaceutical companies in China.
Reuters' review of data from Chinese regulators shows that popular drugs used to fight cancer and diabetes may become more expensive due to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs on cancer.
China announced on Friday that it would impose taxes on U.S. goods imports to U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to pick on the world's second-largest economic economy to raise higher tariffs.
See also: China calls on us to cancel tariffs as Xi Jinping starts SE Asia Tour
The Trump administration is also investigating whether imported pharmaceutical products threaten U.S. national security, which could be a pioneer in tariffs on these products.
The impact of tariffs is unclear
China's National Medical Products Administration records show that large pharmaceutical companies, including AstraZeneca, Sanofi, Gsk and Lilli, have at least one U.S.-made location for drugs sold in China.
In Indiana, Astrazeneca has a production site for its large-scale cancer drugs Durvalumab and Eli Lilly, which also makes its prevalent diabetes and weight loss drug Tirzepatide, data show.
North Carolina is listed as the two drug HIV treatment regimens that manufacture AstraZeneca and Sanofi respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) prevention antibodies Nirsevimab and GSK.
The records reviewed by Reuters did not elaborate on how much the United States was sent to China.
In response to Reuters’ questions about China’s tariffs and their impact, an Eli Lilly spokesman said it was “continue to check the details” and declined to comment further.
Astrazeneca and GSK declined to comment. Sanofi did not respond to a request for comment.
Pharmaceutical giants hope our tariffs will gradually
Experts say China's tariffs on U.S. products could lead to higher prices or limited supply of certain drugs.
“Depending on the product, patients and consumers in China may be greatly affected by tariffs because the production of drugs cannot be transferred to [the] short term.
For the U.S. market, companies in the industry lobby for Trump to have the same tariffs on imported drugs in a bid to reduce the sting of charges and give them time to move manufacturing.
“Given the uncertainty and complexity of the current pharmaceutical supply chain, it (potential U.S. tariffs) clearly create overhangs in the pharmaceutical space,” said William Blair analyst Matt Phipps.
- Jim Pollard's additional editor Reuters
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