Trump tariffs unleash hidden chaos

As Australia settled into the Easter Long Weekend Trump threw a fox into the Easter Bunny hutch with a proclamation revisiting pharmaceutical tariffs. This is likely to affect the pharmaceutical companies operating in Australia far more than our citizens.

Local reporting paid scant attention to the tariffs also being placed on active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), which the proclamation makes clear are considered by the US Administration as just as important to manufacture within the US as the finished pharmaceutical products.

The base tariff is 100 per cent effective from 31 July 2026 or 29 September 2026 depending on the company, with lower tariffs afforded to certain countries that have made a deal with the US, and pharmas who have convinced the Administration their onshoring plans should get them preferential treatment. In most cases that means a tariff rate of 20 per cent.