Drug companies’ playbook for deflecting tariffs

Drug companies are pursing a three-track strategy to deflect tariffs on U.S. imports of pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients: making high-profile investments in domestic manufacturing, sounding alarms about shortages, and pointing out that tax policy is a far more effective tool for bolstering domestic manufacturing.

There is a lot at stake. If tariffs are imposed as broadly as the Trump administration has threatened, they are likely to cause shortages of life-saving generic drugs, former heads of CMS and FDA have warned. They could also squeeze profits on innovative drugs, spurring cutbacks in R&D that would flow through the entire biopharma ecosystem, according to pharma CEOs...