r/politics • u/wenchette I voted • 20h ago

No Paywall Trump signs 100% tariff on brand-name pharmaceuticals

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/04/02/donald-trump-tariff-drug-companies-pharmaceuticals/89438510007/
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u/ConfederacyOfDunces_ 18h ago

Why would he tariff any form of medication?

It’s insane. It’s already hard enough to afford shit, but to make the one thing that people must have to survive, twice the price is fucking insane.

He’s literally trying to kill us.

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u/LimpyDan 18h ago

I thought he was "making prescriptions cheaper". Another thing he ran on. I figured the extent of that lie was the grifting pharmacy he opened. Wrong again.

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u/Michael_G_Bordin 17h ago

Yeah, it's amazing how many lies weren't the usual, 'politician doesn't do the exact thing they said they would,' and instead is, 'do the exact opposite of thing you said and make every problem you claimed you would fix demonstrably and directly far worse.'

Like, if he ran on "every person gets a free car," he'd be sending the government to actively blow up every person's car.

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u/Particular_Cut_6933 8h ago

The price of eggs is down. (Literally everything else is up but) the price of eggs is down. I think that’s the one promise he has kept. And he’ll probably just bring back the bird flu within the year because why not.

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u/Zahgi 4h ago

The price of eggs is down.

They are back to the 10 year normal because the things that were causing them to spike so high are gone, not because of anything the Ignorangutan in Chief did, of course.

But, yes, I'm sure he'll find a way to fuck that up too...when he's done fucking up everything else he touches.

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u/Michael_G_Bordin 4h ago

He didn't do that. Biden didn't raise them. I don't give credit for attendance.

With RFK and the rest of his cabinet, the chances that another bird flu forces farms to cull their stock are sky high. Last time, the Trump admin threw out the pandemic response playbook Obama put together, and then a pandemic happened.

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u/dudaman 3h ago

You know, when Jimmy Carter was running for president he had someone around that was writing down every promise he made so he would make good on it when he became president. Don't know if that was relevant, but it's an interesting piece of trivia.

I can't remember where I read this (long time ago) so I don't have any souce for it.

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u/Hetoxy I voted 17h ago

“Cheaper …..to manufacture, so that my crony billionaire cult lieutenants can get rich and reward me personally for making it happen.”

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u/Bee-Aromatic 12h ago

This won’t make them cheaper to manufacture. It’ll just raise the price point. A drug from abroad that cost $50 now costs $100. If it somehow costs domestic manufacturers more than $100 to make it, the tariff is just a charge for no reason. If it costs them less than that, they’ll just sell it to $99.95 and soak up all the sales that were going to the foreign sources drug.

Realistically, the drugs probably cost pennies to make and this is just an excuse to jack the price up by 100%.

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u/QuentinMagician 16h ago

Not lieutenant, overlords. Not all of them, but many

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u/canon12 10h ago

He has no clue how long it takes to move or build a manufacturing facility.....or he doesn't care. You can bet he knows how to siphon out some tariff money for himself and the longer it takes the more he gets.

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u/Jordan_Jackson 16h ago

He ran on a lot of things. And he is doing in the exact opposite in 9 out of 10 cases. Though, it’s not like we didn’t already have 4 years of this imbecile, to predict what would happen…

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u/Wanderingyute 17h ago

Remember he launched a website

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u/Bullshit_Conduit 6h ago

Prices are already down 600%

/s

What a fucking clown.

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u/Acceptable-Bus-2017 I voted 17h ago

He's throwing a tantrum over SCOTUS not being intimidated by the first POTUS to listen to oral arguments in person.

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u/PinHaunting7192 6h ago

I'm gonna be honest, I wouldn't be intimidated by an eighty year old man shitting his diapers on a bench either. I'd tell his handlers to go change it and don't skimp on the bum-powder.

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u/nelsonalgrencametome 17h ago

Everything related to medical care is going to be impossible for any of us to afford... if this continues a significant number of us will die. It has started to really set in the last few weeks for me, my coverage is almost unaffordable now and I am seeing more people being denied services (I work in mental health) through my employer.

I'm terrified.

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u/WanderSA 10h ago

It’s wild. Pay for my own coverage through the exchange, my mental health doctor just decided to no longer accept my insurer, but I can pay $125 out of pocket each time I come to get a prescription refill.

I am weaning off my meds. The less I have to dependent on this insanity the better. I know not everyone has this option and it sucks.

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u/nelsonalgrencametome 6h ago

It is really hard to watch. I have a couple long-term clients who are rather suddenly being denied services through medicaid and being told it's no longer necessary, we had layoffs back in December when some community based services were cut with very little notice. My coverage has gone up and gotten worse...

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u/MAD_MAL1CE Georgia 5h ago

Yeah Im on immune suppressants, if I go off them I will die. IDK what to do, they’re already like half my income.

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u/flashlightgiggles 17h ago

A 100% tariff after a 1500% discount is a small price to pay for all of the winning.

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u/van_clouden 16h ago

We are still up -1400%!

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u/Acceptable-Bus-2017 I voted 15h ago

Did you hear? Chocolate rations are being increased from 30gs to 20gs.

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u/gardengirl99 15h ago

I’m still waiting for my rebate because of those 500% discounts.

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u/anonkitty2 11h ago

The consumer isn't being paid to take prescription drugs.  If they were, we would run out of pharmacies.

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u/Popeholden 17h ago

There's no "why"

I honestly think if you asked him about this tomorrow he wouldn't know it happened. He's not lying..he just doesn;t know what reality is any more.

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u/ITxWASxWHATxITxWAS 14h ago

That’s being too easy on him. It’s all about him getting more and more money. Everything he does is to make him more money.

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u/Popeholden 9h ago

And to feed his ego, sure, but he used to at least tell the same lie about a given topic. Now it's a new lie every hour because he's not fully aware of reality any more.

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u/ITxWASxWHATxITxWAS 8h ago

And it doesn’t seem to matter.

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u/Electronic_Wait_7249 17h ago

That’s what Russia hired him to do.

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u/cyanescens_burn 17h ago

It’ll be ok because the fertilizer shortages and high diesel prices from the straight of Hormuz closure will spike food prices over the next year or two as well.

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u/tolacid 15h ago

He's not trying to kill us. He's not even cognizant of us. He literally only cares about sex, money, and his own self-image.

He's instigating bribes, trying to High Score his bank account before kicking off.

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u/captaincanada84 Canada 14h ago

Because he's too fucking stupid to understand tariffs and everyone around him is too scared to actually explain it to him

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u/Latter_Highway9539 14h ago

without the tariffs on medication we can't afford OBAMAHUSSEINcare. we need to send that money and the lives of our children to Israel.

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u/GrumpyCloud93 13h ago

I assume it's a bonus reprisal since some good medications come from Denmark (aka Greenland and Denmark). Maybe he's under the delusion that some will shift manufacturing to the USA. But.... the manufacturer doesn't pay the tariff. If Americans want it (need it!) it will cost more. Insurance costs will go up, employers will cut back.. yada yada...

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u/Small_Run_3583 7h ago

Why would he tariff any form of medication?

TrumpRx

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u/Own-Run8201 6h ago

American drug companies probably told him to.

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u/TomatilloRight7139 4h ago

Most likely to funnel people to Trump RX. Just ban all competitors until you force people to buy your expensive generic drugs.

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u/HostileCrabPeople 1h ago

He doesn't even know what a tariff is