How Trump’s 100% Tariffs on Pharmaceuticals Could Impact People Like Us

What if your prescriptions doubled overnight? On Thursday, Trump announced he is imposing a 100% Tariff on branded and patented pharmaceuticals on October 1, 2025. One report stated that this doesn't apply to generics. Other exemptions will be to companies who are currently moving or building manufacturing here in the U.S. While there are benefits to having our medications made here, this ripple effect could be devastating to a lot of people.

Many of our current prescription drugs come from countries such as India, China and Europe. One negative about this is there can be differentials on how drugs are formulated in different places. I know when I have switched pharmacies for my generic prescriptions I've had some medications that felt different or off from others. This has been my personal experience with generics.

There is still a lot we don't know about this new policy. As with most things with Trump, details are limited so a lot we'll just have to see how it plays out. He also tends to flip flop a lot so this is very likely to change shortly after I hit publish. But I'm going off what I know and understand as of right now.

Some things this could mean in the near future:

• Higher drug costs — especially for specialty or rare medications.
• Disrupted supply chains — fewer imports could mean shortages.
• Insurance & pharmacies pulling back — some drugs may no longer be covered or carried.
• Greater burden on vulnerable groups — people on fixed incomes, Medicaid, or Medicare could face impossible choices.

I could list dozens of more things, but this is just the start of what is possible. One thing as a side note here, I'm watching CNN as I type this, and there is little to no news coverage about this. Everything is about the Comey indictment and the Epstein list. While those are important and people like to say things are distractions. I honestly think this administration is so awful they like to just do multiple terrible things at the same time so we can't track everything. Its like an evil Octopus with each tentacle having its own little Grim Reaper attached.

Is This All Bad?

A few bright points in all this, however is the limit on branded and patented drugs may rescue a lot of needed medications to slip through without any increase or disruption. There is also a good chance various medical groups will challenge these Tariffs in court, putting them on hold or stopping them completely.

It is still unclear, but generics may be exempt. We'll have to see how this plays out. Some companies also may have already had a stockpile of medications subject to tariffs, so there may be a few months delay before this takes effect. By then who knows what changes may happen.

So what can we do?

On a personal note, as I've blogged recently, I've been tapering off my psychiatric medications. It wasn't for this reason as I had no idea this was coming. I blog those reasons in the previous article. But I have a lot of family members who rely on life saving medications whom I worry about. One mitigation is switch to generics when possible. I know our insurance pretty much only covers generics.

One thing we learned recently is advocacy does work. Contact our lawmakers and representatives daily to urge them to put a stop to this. We can also monitor which companies are building in the U.S., those companies will be exempt from the Tariff. If you can research that and request those medications it may delay any disruption in your medication delivery.

Also contact your insurance company. Find out what they will cover under the tariffs and what alternatives you may have or options. They may also file a suit over this as they don't want to pay more if they don't have to. While I don't have a lot of faith in American health insurance, I know they love money so hopefully they will somehow use that for good.

I know this all sounds scary and its easy to feel helpless, but we are not. Keep an eye on this, as I said a lot of mainstream news is not covering this, so research and find out the statuses and updates on this before and after it takes effect. Like I said earlier, Trump changes his mind more than I move my blog around so he may reverse or lower this whole thing right after I publish this blog.

I realize manufacturing our medications in the U.S. is important. Its more controlled and regulated as to what they will contain. Also in the event of an international conflict, we don't have to worry about our prescriptions being tampered with or disruptions in the supply chain. The problem rushing this tariff out like this is, for decades our own government encouraged and offered incentives for companies to move their drug production overseas.

Don't Give up Hope

There is currently no set up or infrastructure here for a lot of medication production. So these things take time. They won't be able to just put it all in place in a few months. I know the exemption for in process says companies who have "broken ground" but once again, details on this are limited and there is just a lot we don't know. Things change fast now and honestly its exhausting, but I'm doing my best to keep up.

In the meantime, do your best to keep an eye on developments for This. I hope this blog is helpful and not scary. I really don't want to be clickbaity or a fearmonger. I always try to offer some hope and positivity but also want to keep things real. Things definitely are bad, but we are not helpless and our saving grace is Trump doesn't know what he's doing and is likely to change something on this in the near future.

The best thing each of us can do is stay informed, and stay engaged. They're counting on us to feel helpless, give up hope and tune out. Once we do that we know they will have won. Hope is our guiding force and knowledge is our weapon. Wield them carefully and we can make it through this together.