Trump Pharma Plan Looks Like Reprieve for Many Drugmakers (3)

President Donald Trump’s plan to impose a 100% tariff on branded drug imports was greeted with a shrug by many investors, who are betting his exemptions for companies with US manufacturing will soften any blow.

While Trump’s move threatens to double the cost of some imported treatments if construction on US manufacturing sites hasn’t begun by Oct. 1, many big drugmakers already have US plants or are building them.

“All big pharma companies have a US presence and almost all have announced large investments in the years to come,” Vontobel analyst Sibylle Bischofberger Frick said in a note. “Will ...