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President Donald Trump’s broad 10 percent tariff on China could drive up the cost, or cause shortages, of popular generic medicines such as antibiotics or cancer treatment drugs for consumers in the United States, experts have warned.
Ordinary painkillers, psychoactive medications, blood thinners, heart medications, antihistamines, antibiotics and diuretics are just some of the essential medications that the U.S. relies on China to manufacture.
In 2023, the U.S. spent more than $2.02 billion on these kinds of imports from China alone, according to the U.S. Trade Commission.
In a letter to Trump, the American Hospital Association pleaded with the president to exempt medical equipment and pharmaceuticals from his tariffs, saying the possibility of shortages could put patients “at significant risk of harm, including death.”
“Tariffs, as well as any reaction of the countries on whom such tariffs are imposed, could reduce the availability of these life-saving medications and supplies in the U.S,” the group wrote. “For example, U.S. providers import many cancer and cardiovascular medications, immunosuppressives, antibiotics and combination antibiotics from China.”
“Generic manufacturers simply can’t absorb new costs,” John Murphy III, the president and CEO of the Association for Accessible Medicines said in a statement.
“Our manufacturers sell at an extremely low price, sometimes at a loss, and are increasingly forced to exit markets where they are underwater. The overall value of all generic sales in the U.S. has gone down by $6.4 billion in five years despite growth in volume and new generic launches. Tariffs would make this much worse,” Murphy said.
China supplies the U.S. with approximately 30 percent of its active pharmaceutical ingredients, the raw ingredients found in medicines that make them function, according to the American Hospital Association.
China also is one of the U.S.’s main source of medical equipment and devices such as single-use blood pressure cuffs, stethoscope covers, anesthesia instruments and more. Nearly one-third of disposable face masks and almost all plastic gloves come from China.
“For many patients, even a temporary disruption in their access to these needed medications could put them at significant risk of harm, including death. Carefully planned chemotherapy treatments and antibiotic schedules are essential to giving patients the best chance of overcoming their disease. Similarly, the provision of necessary cardiovascular medications must be continuous to preserve their cardiovascular health,” the American Hospital Association said.
For the last 10 years, the U.S. has become increasingly reliant on foreign countries for pharmaceuticals or medical equipment because it is less expensive to manufacture overseas.
Though tariffs may incentivize the U.S. to begin manufacturing its own drugs, it will not happen overnight and as a result, shortages can occur.
But the long-term effects of the tariffs – whether that’s shortages or increased drug costs – will not be tangible for several months, Dr. Aaron Kesselheim, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School whose research focuses on prescription drugs, told NBC News.
