The threat of a tariff surcharge appears to be bearing fruit in the United States. After the Pfizer laboratory reduced the price of some of its drugs sold in the United States at the end of September, its competitor AstraZeneca announced Donald Trump on Friday, October 10 from the White House.
According to him, the group will now offer its medications in the United States “at the lowest price sold anywhere on the planet” and will put its future treatments on sale “with significant discounts.”
Medicines much more expensive than in France
Drug prices in the United States are among the highest in the world, surpassing those of its neighbors and Europe. According to a study by the Rand Corporation, Americans pay an average of 2.5 times more for prescription drugs than the French, for example, a difference that Donald Trump had pledged to reduce. And according to Thierry Hulot, president of Leem, the union of French pharmaceutical laboratories, drug prices in France are even “four times lower than in the United States.”
At the same time, AstraZeneca has committed to investing “$50 billion in the United States over the next five years, for research and development, as well as the relocation of production tools,” added Donald Trump.
In a statement published the day before, the group had already announced an investment of 4.5 billion dollars in its factory in Virginia (east), with the creation of 3,600 jobs, an effort that is “the cornerstone of an investment of 50 billion dollars” announced last July.
Threats of a 100% customs surcharge
Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened a possible 100% customs surcharge on all imported patented drugs unless laboratories build production sites in the United States.
An exemption that the Pfizer laboratory also benefited from at the end of September. In recent months, the Republican has increased measures to encourage pharmaceutical laboratories to repatriate their production to American soil and lower their prices, something that he had not achieved during his first term.
“The majority come to talk to us about the tariffs,” said Donald Trump, “you have to understand that they will not have customs duties if they manufacture in the country.”
Source: BFM TV
