Washington DC, July 10 -- US President Donald Trump threatened to raise tariffs on pharmaceutical imports to 200% on Tuesday, months after his administration launched a trade investigation into the sector in which Indian manufacturers have significant stakes. "We will be announcing something very soon on pharmaceuticals. We're going to give people a year or a year and a half to come in and after that, they're going to be tariffed if they have to bring the pharmaceuticals into the country.They're going to be tariffed at a very, very high rate, like 200%," Trump told reporters during a cabinet meeting. This comes after the Trump administration launched a Section 232 investigation into pharmaceuticals in April. A Section 232 investigation attempts to determine whether imports of particular items pose a national security threat to the US. The move was widely seen as laying the groundwork for placing tariffs on pharma imports, although the sector was exempted from Trump's reciprocal tariffs announced in April. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick later confirmed that the administration is considering giving pharma makers time to set up manufacturing facilities in the US before tariffs kick in. The US accounted for 31% of India's global pharma exports in 2024-25, according to the Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council of India. India's total global pharma exports stood at over $30 billion in 2024-25. "India supplies about 40% of generic formulations marketed in US. Indian pharma companies have manufacturing units in about 14 locations in US," according to the Embassy of India in Washington DC. India's pharma industry has raised concerns about tariffs on its exports into US and has pointed out that the move could worsen drug shortages there. "Today, generics represent 1.2% of total US healthcare costs despite covering 90% of all prescriptions in the US. Indian pharmaceutical manufacturers help Americans with hypertension, high blood pressure, and pain every single day. But the companies manufacturing these drugs operate under razor-thin margins. If large tariffs are imposed, they will trigger substantially more drug shortages, cause greater US dependence on China for life-saving medications, and delay Indian companies' investments in America," said Kathleen Jaeger, US spokesperson for the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance....