Made in America Tariffs, Pricing Pressure Are Driving Big Pharma’s U.S. Investment Surge

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With an aim to enhance domestic manufacturing of key medicines in the USA and cut dependence on foreign imports, President Donald Trump has threatened a 100 % tariff on branded or patented drug imports for companies not building plants on American soil. The Trump administration has also identified roughly 26 critical medicines and intends to maintain a 6-month supply of APIs for these critical drugs. In addition to this, 17 drug companies have also been pressed to bring U.S. prescription prices in line with those in peer countries, and many have responded with both price cuts and large U.S. investment pledges.

In an era of trade wars and heightened disruption across the globe, supply chains are usually the first to be hit, leading to significant production challenges. The pharma industry in the USA is no different where Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), core components of a pharmaceutical drug, are sourced from different parts of the world. With an aim to mitigate supply chain risks in the U.S., President Trump’s administration has identified approximately 26 drugs that are critical to the country and intends to maintain a 6-month supply of APIs for these critical drugs.

In an August 2025 Executive Order, the President stated, “During my first term, my first Administration created a Strategic Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Reserve (SAPIR) to stockpile APIs. Stockpiling APIs is advantageous as APIs are generally lower-cost and have longer shelf lives than the finished drug products they make. Filling the SAPIR will also insulate the United States from the concentration of foreign, sometimes adversary, nations in the world-wide supply of the Key Starting Materials used to make APIs. Moreover, Government purchases of APIs to fill the SAPIR can encourage more domestic production of APIs.”