Donald Trump has threatened to introduce tariffs of up to 200pc on pharmaceutical imports in a bid to force more drugmakers to bring factories to the US.

On Tuesday, the US President said “very, very high” duties could be imposed on medicines imported into the US but that he was considering giving pharmaceutical groups one year “to get their act together.”

Economists have warned that higher tariffs on drugs would also hurt American patients, and that taxpayers would end up having to pay more for US government healthcare schemes.

  • ByteJunk@lemmy.world
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    18 hours ago

    This is the work of dementia.

    Push comes to shove, you don’t need to buy a new car, or a new PC or a new smartphone. Even new clothes, or specific foods, you can do without any of those by replacing them or buying 2nd hand or just not having them.

    Medicine is not the same. You cannot afford to “not buy it”, in most cases, without severe or even fatal consequences, so tariffs are absolutely useless.

    Prices will just get shifted to the end user, as they always are. It’s especially egregious when it comes to medication because the prices are already hyperinflated and there’re closely orchestrated monopolies that prevent price competition.

    Good thing TACO.

    • Dultas@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      And if there is no alternative medication to compete with it’s not like the manufacturer has any competition to worry about so why would they care about prices going up.