France, May 15 -- French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi plans to invest billions of euros to expand its manufacturing in the United States, in response to President Donald Trump's trade policies - which include threats to impose tariffs on medicines in order to increase homegrown production.

One of the world's largest vaccine makers and a leader in anti-inflammatory drugs, Sanofi said on Wednesday that it is planning on investing $20 billion (€17.8 billion) in the next five years to expand its capacity to manufacture drugs in the US.

In a statement, Sanofi said the money would allow a substantial increase in spending on research and development in the country "to expand its US manufacturing capacity", through direct investments in cu...