By Helena Smolak
Pharmaceutical stocks took a hit after U.S. President Trump said tariffs on pharma imports will be unveiled very shortly, signaling the industry could be next in line amid a trade war that is causing market turmoil globally.
In European morning trade, the Stoxx Europe 600 Health Care index--which is heavily dominated by Europe's six largest pharma companies--was down 4.5%, against a 2.7% fall for the broader Stoxx Europe 600. The falls mirrored a selloff among pharma stocks in Asia.
Switzerland's Roche and Novartis, the U.K.'s AstraZeneca and GSK and France's Sanofi were down 5% or more in morning trade. Japan's Daiichi Sankyo and Takeda Pharmaceutical closed 6% and 4.7% lower, while Australia's CSL shed 5%.
In U.S. premarket trading, Eli Lilly, Merck, AbbVie and Pfizer all fell more than 1%.
The pharma sector was spared from Trump's sweeping tariff plan last week, which kicked in on Wednesday, but the U.S. president had previously pledged to impose tariff on pharma products and his remarks at a Tuesday dinner with House Republicans suggested levies could come soon.
"We're going to tariff our pharmaceuticals and once we do that they're going to come rushing back into our country because we're the big market," Trump said, without providing further details. "So we're going to be announcing very shortly a major tariff on pharmaceuticals."
Trump has long criticized the lack of pharmaceutical production in the U.S. His administration said it might launch an investigation into the sector under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which allows the president to levy tariffs on products deemed essential for national security. That is the provision Trump has used on recent tariffs targeting the automotive and steel sectors.
Drugmakers say they are still unclear about whether Trump will impose tariffs on finished products or on active pharmaceutical ingredient, and on whether the duties will come all at once or in phases.
Write to Helena Smolak at helena.smolak@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 09, 2025 05:24 ET (09:24 GMT)
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