The US is waiving tariffs on some specialty drugs from 20 countries, including India
The US Department of Commerce has released a list of countries in the Federal Register as it prepares to impose a 100% tariff on imports of certain proprietary medicines and their associated ingredients starting September 29. File | Photo credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto
The US will not charge any ad valorem duty on certain specialty drugs and related ingredients used to treat rare diseases imported from India and 19 other countries.
According to the World Customs Organization, an ad valorem tariff is a fixed percentage of the monetary value of goods to be taxed.
The US Department of Commerce has released a list of countries in the Federal Register as it prepares to impose a 100% tariff on imports of certain proprietary medicines and their associated ingredients starting September 29.
On April 2, President Donald Trump issued a statement imposing tariffs on U.S. imports of proprietary drugs, biologics and related ingredients as part of an effort to encourage domestic manufacturing.
Eligible products for the zero duty rate include all orphan drugs, infertility treatments, cell therapies, gene therapies, antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and animal drugs. The components of these medicines are also subject to a zero duty rate.
Apart from India, the other countries in the zero tariff category are Argentina, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ecuador, El Salvador, European Union, Guatemala, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Malaysia, North Macedonia, South Korea, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Taiwan, Thailand, Britain and Vietnam.
The announcement stated that qualifying products from these jurisdictions could receive zero duty because they have a current or pending framework agreement on trade and security with the US.
The exemptions are part of the implementation of Trump’s April proclamation regulating the importation of drugs and pharmaceutical ingredients under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act.
The Proclamation imposed a 100% duty on specified patent medicines and ingredients.
For the companies listed in one annex, it entered into force on July 31, and from September 29 it will also apply to the other included companies.
Generic pharmaceutical products and their associated ingredients are not subject to pharmaceutical tariffs under Section 232, according to a Commerce Department notice.
The notice also makes several technical corrections to the original statement, including changing the definition of “generic pharmaceutical products” to specifically include off-patent veterinary products.
It also clarifies that the definition of “pharmaceutical products” includes only finished pharmaceutical products, their active pharmaceutical ingredients and the key starting materials of those ingredients.
Published – 29 Sep 2026 12:39 IST