Earlier this month, the White House announced a sweeping package of tariffs on European imports. The administration also indicated that "major" tariffs on pharmaceutical products could be next.
Using economic pressure to hold foreign governments accountable is a tried and tested strategy. And in some cases, it's already proving effective for President Trump.
But targeting European medicines is the wrong move. It doesn't punish leaders across the Atlantic — it punishes Americans by driving up federal healthcare spending, drug costs, and drug shortages. And while the United States pays more for fewer options, China will seize the moment and accelerate its push to dominate the global pharmaceutical market.
At every turn, tariffs on European drugs undercut the agenda President Trump is working to deliver. Trump should course correct and direct this specific trade pressure toward the real national security concern: drug imports from China.
And when it comes to our European allies, it can pursue alternative tools that confront unfair trade practices without putting Americans in the crosshairs.
In 2023 alone, the United States imported $128 billion worth of pharmaceutical products from Europe. Even a small tariff could saddle Americans with billions in extra costs.
European manufacturers won't absorb those costs. Americans will.
Just look at Medicare and Medicaid — the two largest purchasers of prescription drugs in the United States. Federal spending on these programs already tops $1.4 trillion a year. Imposing tariffs on medicines will drive those figures even higher, ballooning the deficit and piling more debt on Americans.
This is exactly the kind of government waste that conservatives should be fighting against — not enabling. It also flies in the face of the mission behind the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which President Trump launched to cut red tape, root out inefficiency, and make government work better for the hardworking taxpayers who fund it.
Patients will feel the pain as costs rise across government programs and the broader healthcare system. Premiums, deductibles, and out-of-pocket costs will all go up.
As a result, tariffs on medicines don’t just threaten pocketbooks, they threaten lives. When medicines become unaffordable, people delay care, skip doses, or abandon treatment altogether.
This is a health crisis waiting to happen.
European firms supply critical drugs on the U.S. market, including treatments like Keytruda for cancer and Wegovy for weight loss and diabetes. Some critical medicines aren't manufactured anywhere else.
A sudden price spike or supply disruption would put numerous lifesaving treatments out of reach for millions of Americans.
And it's not just the finished products Americans rely on. One-third of the active ingredients used in the drugs taken by Americans come from Europe. Our domestic factories — more than 1,500 of them — can't just replace those ingredients with a flip of a switch. If we make those critical inputs more expensive or more difficult to obtain, U.S. manufacturing won't increase, it'll decline.
A recent survey found that 94% of U.S. biotech companies expect tariffs on European goods to lead to "surging manufacturing costs." That means slower production and fewer drugs on shelves.
And who stands to gain from all this? China.
China currently supplies just 7% of active pharmaceutical ingredients in U.S. medicines. But China’s leaders in Beijing aren't content with that. In fact, they’re making dominating the global drug market a national priority.
Tariffs on European medicines would weaken the West's drug supply chain and only fast-track China's ambitions. That's a real national security threat. If tensions escalate, Xi Jinping could exploit America's increased reliance on essential medicines from China.
The Trump administration should focus any drug tariffs squarely on imports from China. Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act gives the president broad authority to impose tariffs when imports threaten U.S. national security — a likely next step following the recent rollout.
But the administration should resist the urge to stretch national security justifications beyond their purpose. Lifesaving cancer therapies and diabetes medicines from Europe don't fall under that scope.
There are far more effective ways to apply pressure on Europe, and the United States has every right to pursue them. But making American patients into collateral damage in a trade war they didn't sign up for doesn't make sense.
Tariffs on European medicines are a losing proposition. They'll raise prices, deepen shortages, and increase government spending — all while helping China build on its foothold in the global drug supply chain.
There are better ways to be tough on trade than by harming ailing Americans.
Drew Johnson is one of America's leading taxpayer advocates and government watchdogs. He was recently the Donald Trump-endorsed Republican nominee for Congress in Nevada's 3rd congressional district. Previously, Johnson exposed wasteful government spending as a budget policy scholar at think tanks, including the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, the National Taxpayers Union, and the National Center for Public Policy Research. Read More of His Reports — Here.
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