US Grants Tariff Exemptions for Specialty Drugs from India and 19 Nations

This exemption follows President Donald Trump’s April proclamation, which sought to incentivize domestic pharmaceutical production by imposing a 100 per cent tariff on certain patented imports under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act. While the broader policy aims to reshape the supply chain, the government has carved out a zero-tariff category for jurisdictions that maintain active or forthcoming trade and security framework agreements with the United States.

Eligible items under the waiver include treatments for infertility, gene therapies, antibody-drug conjugates, and animal pharmaceuticals. Beyond India, the list of exempted trade partners features the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Britain, and several emerging markets including Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Thailand. The Commerce Department clarified that generic pharmaceuticals remain outside the scope of these Section 232 tariffs, while also refining definitions to ensure that unpatented animal health products are explicitly categorized as generic. These adjustments provide a specific regulatory reprieve for critical medical imports as the administration prepares to enforce its wider pharmaceutical trade restrictions.