US President Donald Trump is talking to Lehigh Valley International Airport’s press in Alentown, Pennsylvania, United States on August 3, 2025.
Ken Cedeno | Reuters
President Donald Trump told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Tuesday that the planned prices on imported pharmaceutical products in the United States may reach up to 250%, the highest rate it has threatened so far.
He said that he would initially impose a “small price” on pharmaceutical products, but in one year to a year and a half maximum “, he will increase this rate to 150%, then 250%.
The president threatened several times, then changed the course on the pricing proposals, there is therefore no guarantee that he will eventually define pharmaceutical rates at the rate of 250%. In early July, Trump threatened 200% of pharmaceutical products.
The Trump administration in April launched a so-called survey of article 232 on pharmaceutical products. It is a legal authority which allows the Secretary of Commerce to investigate the impact of imports on national security.
Prices are the president’s offer to encourage pharmaceutical companies to move manufacturing operations in the United States at a time when the production of domestic drugs has reduced considerably in recent decades. In the past six months, companies like Eli Lilly And Johnson & Johnson announced new American investments to build goodwill with the president.
“We want pharmaceutical products to our country,” Trump told CNBC.
The planned samples would take a blow to the pharmaceutical industry, which warned that prices could increase costs, dissuade investments in the United States and disrupt the drug supply chain, which puts patients in danger. Medication manufacturers are already navigating on the benefits of Trump’s medication pricing policies, which they think are threatening their net profit and their ability to invest in research and development.
This includes Trump’s executive decree in May which revives a controversial plan, the policy of the “most favored nation”, which aims to reduce the costs of drugs by linking the prices of certain drugs in the United States to the lowest abroad.
Trump on Tuesday told CNBC that he had “invoked” the policy of the “most favored nations” and that it will have “a huge impact on the price of medicine”. But Trump has officially implemented any change compared to the decree.
Trump last week has sent letters to 17 drug manufacturers who call them to commit to reducing American drug prices by September 29.
Some pharmaceutical companies have said they were examining the letters.