France exports for almost 4 billion euros in medicines in the United States: industrialists very concerned with Trump that does not want customs exemption

The European and French federations of the pharmaceutical industries expressed their concerns on Tuesday regarding the commercial agreement between the European Union and the United States, which leaves the pharmacies sector in uncertainty about customs duties.

“Customs tasks on medicines are a brutal instrument that will interrupt supply chains, will have an impact on investments in research and development and, in the end, will damage patients to medications on both sides of the Atlantic,” the European Federation of the Sector (EFPICA) reacted in a press release.

The EFPIA “continues to examine the advertisements related to the American State Commercial Agreement, since the key implications for the pharmaceutical sector remain uncertain.” The president of the United States, Donald Trump, and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, concluded a customs agreement on Sunday, provided that European products exported to the United States are taxed at 15%.

Exports of the French pharmaceutical industry to the United States represented 3.8 billion euros in 2024, or 7.9% of total exports to the country, far ahead of chemicals (2.6 billion euros), machines (2.8 million euros) and ships (1.8 billion euros).

“Deeply worrying”

Donald Trump warned that pharmaceutical products, until now exempt from a 1994 agreement of the World Trade Organization (WTO), will not benefit from special treatment, without giving details.

At the beginning of July, he had threatened to impose a 200% surcharge on pharmaceutical products imported to the United States if production did not quickly repatriate himself to the US soil. For Efpia, “there are more effective means that would contribute, instead of hindering, global advances in patient care and economic growth.”

The Federation requires “rethinking the assessment of innovation” in Europe and increasing investments in innovative drugs.

For its part, the professional organization that represents the companies of the drug that operate in France (Leem) estimates in a separate press release that “the situation of uncertainty in customs tariffs in the pharmaceutical sector is deeply worrying.”

The imposition of drugs to drugs would lead, according to the union, “to an increase in production costs, aggravate supply difficulties and hinder investment and research and development capacities in Europe.”