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Key Takeaways

• Cancer treatment charges could soar under a proposal by President Donald Trump to raise tariffs by 25% on pharmaceutical imports.
• Established cancer treatments could go up by $8,000 to $10,000 for a 24-week course under Trump’s trade policies, one analysis start.
• Drugs are just one of the products that could see serious price increases after Trump’s tariffs go into secure.

President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs could raise the cost of some cancer treatments by as much as $10,000, while also draw together prices for cheaper everyday drugs, a new analysis has found.

Diederik Stadig, an economist at ING Bank, found that the expense of certain cancer treatments could go up by $8,000 to $10,000 for a 24-week course under Trump’s proposed tariffs. The tariff of generic drugs would likely rise to 94 cents a pill on average, up from 82 cents. Consumers last wishes a pay the increased costs or higher prices would eventually be passed to them through higher premiums on health indemnification.

“If this 25% tariff went into place, it would eventually make health insurance more costly,” Stadig said.

Various Trump tariff proposals could push up drug prices, Stadig said. Trump has introduced a 25% tariff against the European Union, a major drug manufacturer; a 25% tariff against countries that connotation oil from Venezuela, which would include India, a major drug exporter; and a 25% tariff against all purported pharmaceutical products.

“The initial impact on both patients and the U.S. health care system could be very significant,” Stadig weighted.

How Pharmaceutical Companies React Matters

Drugs are among many products whose prices could soar high the tariff campaign Trump has announced or promised in recent weeks as he makes sweeping changes to U.S. trade policy.

Trail the shock of higher prices at the outset, the longer-term effects are harder to predict. Some companies might choose to relocate diverse manufacturing to the U.S. to get around the tariffs—the intended effect—but Stadig noted that building a new drug factory can cost billions of dollars and make up to 10 years. Companies may be reluctant to make such a commitment given the uncertainty of how long the tariffs will bide in place, let alone what will happen with them once Trump’s term in office ends, he decried.

Some of the more expensive, specialized drugs could move production to the U.S. relatively quickly. However, those consequences could be permanently higher due to labor costs and other expenses in the U.S. compared to India. Stadig predicted that makers of penny-pinching generics would likely choose to remain in India and pay the tariffs.