The antibiotic package and various other drugs lie on the table at the pharmacy.
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The European pharmaceutical companies are rushing to prepare for the potential outburst of American import duties, with some forming a “tariff working group”, even when analysts warn that imposing a global trade rules in the sector.
Fresenius Medical Care He says he installed his first “tariff working group” to manage the uncertainty about the proposed trade expenses of US President Donald Trump, with some production probably directly influenced.
“We clearly look at what is happening to the tariffs in Europe and what also happens to the tariffs [on] Medical equipment, “Executive Director Helen Giza told CNBC” Squawk Box Europe “last week.
“The escalation and speed of this, with executive orders, we have put together something quickly,” Giza said about the working group.
President Trump on Wednesday suggested that the European Union may face 25% of tariffs sweep On export to the US, mirrors similar threats to Canada and Mexico. It came a week after Trump said he was considering a flat accusation of about 25% on all pharmaceutical, car and chip.
The proposal was encouraged by the concern of some analysts, who say that such duties in the pharmaceutical industry would mark the violation of the rules set by the World Trade Organization – which is now considered a member.
According to the 1994 WTO pharmacy agreement, most pharmaceutical products and substances used for their production are exempt from tariffs, binding them to endless levels. However, Dieerik Stadig, an economist sector in ING, said the provision may not be enough to prevent the plans of the White House leader.
“I don’t think WTO violation would be enough to encourage an exemption from a reciprocal tariff,” the CNBC E stadig told the Tariff Taskfors “a cautious business move” on Monday.
“The Trump’s administration seems to don’t really care [if it breaks WTO rules]”Soren Lontoft, analyst Pharma Equity of Sydbank, said on Friday at CNBC.
The White House spokesman did not immediately respond to the request of the CNBC to comment on the trade violation possibilities. Secretariat spokesman WTO said “not commenting on the concrete actions of our members, whether proposed or real,” but added that participants could cause concern about other members’ procedures or initiate a dispute resolution process.
Tariff working groups
Uncertainty about Trump’s proposals – and their feasibility – serves as a major headache for European companies.
European pharmaceutical companies would be among the most severely affected tariffs to the sector. The US consumed about $ 560 billion pharmaceutical products in 2024, more than one -third of which were imported, primarily from Ireland, Germany and Switzerland, according to Ing budget.
“These are countries that will particularly hit if the threat becomes reality,” the stadig of the UA wrote note Last month.
Germany’s Fresenius medical care said the tariffs would probably hit a group of supply of dialyzing machinery and consuming products in the US, even if some production based in the US remains isolated.
Alcon Executive director David Endicott said the Swiss-American-American company for pharmaceutical and medical products “paid very attention to” on levies. Although he saw a limited exposure to a direct level of imports and exports, Endicott pointed to the potential concerns about the chain of the company supply, including the import of raw materials.
“We don’t see a big presentation here, but it’s dynamic time,” he told CNBC on Wednesday.
Brian McNamara, Executive Director of British Multinational Consumer Health Company HaleonIn the meantime, he said on Thursday that, although much of the US company sales comes from domestic production, the job “worked through what impact it could be” tariff on one of its plants in Canada and a few more in Europe.
One of these goals of Trump’s tariff is to strengthen domestic American production, encouraging companies to find their production. However, economists have questioned the logic of such a strategy and the ability of companies to increase the capacity in the desired time frame of the President.
“It will take time to build production facilities and the use of empty production capacity,” the stadig said. “Second, the economy of the scale for the generic API [active pharmaceutical ingredients] Production in India and China is so significant that even is 25% of the production of generic APIs is not necessarily cheaper in the American third, it will be shown that it is difficult to quickly source raw materials. “
Others warned that they would only serve the additional levy to increase costs in the already expensive US health sector.
“Many companies have a global supply chain, so in one way or another they will hurt either companies or patients or other members of the rather complex US health system,” Sydbank’s Lontoft said.
