Trump trade deal with Switzerland, Liechtenstein caps pharma tariffs at 15%

Tariffs on pharmaceuticals imported from Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the United States will be capped at 15%, according to a trade agreement struck with the Trump administration. The U.S. tariff rate is in line with a trade deal completed in late July with the 27-nation European Union and is a significant reduction from the 39% rate President Donald Trump imposed on Swiss imports about the same time.

“As part of President Trump’s strategy to establish more balanced trade with Switzerland and Liechtenstein, the trading partners will pay a cumulative reciprocal tariff rate of no higher than 15%, the same treatment given to the European Union,” states a White House fact sheet on the agreement.

Last year, Switzerland — which is not a member state of the European Union — exported nearly $35.5 billion of pharmaceutical products to the U.S., according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade. Switzerland is home to some big players in the biopharma industry such as Novartis and Roche, as well as multinational drugmakers with Swiss manufacturing plants that make medicines for American patients.

“Under the President’s leadership, billions of dollars of investment by major Swiss companies such as Roche, Novartis, ABB, and Stadler have already been announced in connection with the Framework, with more on the way,” according to the White House fact sheet.

In April, Roche announced plans to invest $50 billion in its pharmaceutical and diagnostics operations in the U.S. over the next five years. The investment will fund a new gene therapy manufacturing site in Pennsylvania, a continuous glucose monitoring facility in Indiana, and a 900,000-square-foot manufacturing center for weight loss medicines, with the location to be announced. Roche will also expand its existing sites in Arizona, California, Indiana, and other states, while opening a new R&D center in Massachusetts.

Also in April, Novartis announced it will make an investment of $23 billion over five years on 10 U.S. manufacturing and R&D sites — including seven new facilities, six of which will be manufacturing plants. The company wants to ensure it has the U.S. manufacturing capacity for all its core technology platforms, including small molecules and biologics.  Last week, Novartis announced the opening of a 10,000-square-foot radioligand therapy (RLT) manufacturing facility in Carlsbad, California.

In a joint statement issued by the Swiss Confederation, Switzerland said it intends to encourage and facilitate at least a $200 billion investment in the U.S. over the next five years to create manufacturing and R&D jobs, while Liechtenstein plans to facilitate at least $300 million of investment and increase by 50% over the next five years the number of jobs created by its private sector in the U.S.

Both countries have committed to making one-third of these investments by the end of 2026.

“The United States intends to determine, in its application of reciprocal tariffs, if Switzerland and Liechtenstein have taken appropriate steps to encourage and facilitate these investments and associated job creation,” according to the statement. “If needed, the Participants intend to jointly discuss the steps taken to encourage and facilitate such investment and job creation and determine additional measures for investment promotion and facilitation.”