EU Mulls Tariff Response as Top European Pharma Lobby Warns of “Mass Exodus” of Manufacturing to the U.S.
“Trump’s tariffs would accelerate the industry’s shift away from Europe and toward the US.”
With the European Union struggling to formulate a coherent response to President Donald Trump’s Liberal Day tariffs, Europe’s top pharma lobby has warned of a “mass exodus” of drug research and manufacturing to the United States.
The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), the leading lobby representing Europe’s pharma industry, told EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that “Trump’s tariffs would accelerate the industry’s shift away from Europe and toward the US,” the Belgian news website Eurativ reported Wednesday.
European news reports suggest panic is setting in among EU bureaucrats as President Trump’s tariffs—a 20 percent tariff on EU goods across the board (in addition to 25 percent on steel and aluminium imports)—come into effect on Wednesday.
The Eurativ reported the European pharma industry’s fears:
Pharma industry CEOs met with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday with a “stark warning” on how to prepare the EU sector for a possible coming wave of US tariffs on pharmaceutical products.
In the meeting, industry players such as pharma trade group EFPIA told the Commission president that US President Donald Trump’s tariffs would accelerate the industry’s shift away from Europe and toward the US.
“Unless Europe delivers rapid, radical policy change then pharmaceutical research, development and manufacturing is increasingly likely to be directed towards the US,” said EFPIA in a press release, adding that there could be a “mass exodus”.
Despite tough talk, the EU commissars are yet to formulate a unified response. “As US tariffs on EU exports escalate, Europe scrambles for a unified response,” Germany’s state-run the DW TV reported. “Since Trump’s bold announcement in the White House Rose Garden last Wednesday, the EU has been grappling with how to respond effectively.”
Noting the fallout from President Trump’s decision, the German state TV channel wrote Tuesday that the “new tariffs will impact around 70% of all EU exports to the US, valued at €532 billion ($585 billion) in 2024. Trump has defended the measures, pointing to Europe’s substantial trade surplus with the US, which reached $235.6 billion (€215.5 billion) in 2024, according to US government figures.”
EU unveils ‘trade bazooka,’ hopes that Trump will back down
The 27-member European bloc is considering a sweeping 25 percent tariff on U.S. goods, a move dubbed by the media as the EU ‘trade bazooka.’
“The European Union is negotiating with a trade bazooka in its hand, but can’t agree on whether to pull the trigger just yet,” Politico reported Monday. “According to an internal document seen by POLITICO, the Commission is considering slapping tariffs of up to 25 percent on a broad range of exports from the U.S. in response to Trump’s levies on steel and aluminum.”
Brussels, however, hopes that the short-term market turmoil could force President Trump to reconsider his Liberation Day tariffs. “When it comes to sticks, the EU wants to create the impression of negotiating from a position of strength (while hoping that the financial market turmoil unleashed by Trump’s tariff broadside will sap his fighting spirit),” the U.S. news website added.
The EU has already announced the first round of ‘retaliatory’ tariffs. “On Monday evening, the Commission proposed its first retaliatory tariffs at 25% on a range of U.S. imports in response to Trump’s steel and aluminium tariffs rather than the broader levies, Reuters reported.
According to Reuters, the EU was set to “produce a larger package of countermeasures by the end of April, as a response to U.S. car and broader tariffs.”
Brussels had to scale down its response after France and Italy feared a massive U.S. response aimed at their lucrative wine and alcohol exports. “However, the list was shortened after the EU executive bowed to pressure from member states and removed bourbon, wine and dairy after Trump threatened a 200% counter-tariff on EU alcoholic drinks,” the news agency added Monday. “France and Italy, major exporters of wine and spirits, were particularly concerned.”
Trump says countries are now offering him concessions that he never even thought of asking them for.
Tariffs work. The Art of the Deal. pic.twitter.com/Rwhphxv0Gm
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) April 7, 2025
Trump rejects EU plea to drop tariffs
So far, President Trump has refused to rollback tariffs on EU goods. “President Donald Trump rejected a European Union proposal to drop tariffs on all bilateral trade in industrial goods with the US, meaning that his 20% tariff on all EU imports is due to come into force Wednesday,” the Bloomberg reported Tuesday.
“Speaking at the White House on Monday, Trump said the offer from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is not enough to reset the transatlantic trading relationship, accusing the EU of maintaining other barriers to trade,” the broadcaster added.
President Trump believes that tough measures, such as the retaliatory tariffs, are the only way to force Europeans and other trade partners to level the playing field for U.S. companies. “If I didn’t do what I did over the last couple of weeks, you wouldn’t have anyone who wants to negotiate,” the president said Monday. “Now they’re coming to us.”
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
“while hoping that the financial market turmoil unleashed by Trump’s tariff broadside will sap his fighting spirit”
Did the continental news outlets cover the saga of Trump’s “357 felonies?”
Does Queen VDL know who she is up against?
Even the wolf who killed her pony didn’t put its head in her bed.
I guess they missed the market bounce back yesterday and the fact Trump does not base foreign policy according to Wall Street’s wishes. Maybe instead of mocking and laughing at Trump the wizards of smart running the EU should have been talking to his trade representatives seriously. In fact, even after Trumps first term it seems everyone has been taken by surprise that he is doing what he said he would during his campaign.
“This is not normal” is the new mantra on the left. Damn right it isn’t and that is why we have DJT 47.
God get us out of NATO already. Then those euroweenies can spend their time worrying about the russian bear rather than how to screw with us,
BTW we out to mandate that pharmaceutical companies manufacture a certain amount of their drugs in the US, This is a national security issue. We should mandate that all foreign companies manufacturer a certain amount of their products in the US. We can quibble percentages later.
The US should pull out of NATO as it’s long past the time Europe defended itself. We should pivot towards China and the threat over there building stronger ties in SE Asia, Australia and India.
Anything less than a base offer to remove import restrictions, import quota limits or import bans for ALL products from the USA including Agricultural should be rejected.
That should be the precondition for negotiations about tariff rates, direct subsidies, indirect subsidies, currency and other protectionist barriers to free trade and the US response.
IMO we should reclassify our relationships; Allies, Friends, Neutrals, Strategic rivals and Strategic Competitors. Each Nation would more/less classify themselves by things under their control. Imposing significant protectionist policies like import bans of Agriculture is not the act of our ‘Allies’ or Friends’. Nor would ‘Allies or Friends’ refuse to meet basic duties to their own Nat Sec by spending less than 3% GDP on defense and they would certainly not expect the US Navy to provide Maritime Security of their trade.
European Pharma’s response is a tacit admission that if the EU wasn’t bribing them to stay there, they would be here.
Which, as we’ve discussed, is what even “good” “national security insurance” tariffs do. But it’s valuable to have them publicly admit it.
You caught that and well done. They are indeed admitting that if the EU was not subsidizing them to offset ruinous energy and labor costs they would already have left.
No matter what the EU says, the US is their largest market and they cannot afford to lose it. They need us to survive and they know it. Trump must stick to his demands and not back down on whit. The US is the largest market for ALL German cars. The US is the largest market for French wines. The list goes on and on. Without our markets, they will go broke. It’s that simple and we do not have to accommodate them.
Can we put a tariff on California wineries?
Not constitutionally.
Maybe emission controls, though.
Well .. almost all wine comes from grapes which are a fruit and States do have the power to regulate the entry of fruit into their Jurisdiction which I believe even CA has imposed restrictions so they can hardly have legit complaints if other States use their own power to regulate ‘imports of fruit and fruit derivatives’.
That would be California whineries and although I laud the idea, the answer is no.
To my palate, Cali wines are far superior to the French. I don’t recall the last French wine I enjoyed.
The EU should think better than to get in a game of ‘chicken’ with DJT.
The EU would probably team up with China than offer free trade to the US
Haven’t they already?
EU going to China
would be funny, China will screw them over.
If tariffs don’t work, why do other nations use them against the US?
No it’s our tariffs that don’t work. Theirs seem to work fine.
Their technocrats are better than ours.
So they develop pharma here, manufacture it elsewhere, then sell it to us for a kajillion dollar profit (w/out Tarriffs) – and sell it elsewhere (with Tarriffs) for a fraction of the price?
Wow- at least buy me a Happy Meal before screwing me like that.
I prefer to have my hair pulled and to be kissed before being screwed. But I will take a Happy Meal.
The Euroweenies will offer zero tariffs only on categories in which they sell a great deal more than they buy from us.
Which is understandable; they want to protect their own industries. We, on the other hand, need to stop giving away access to our markets. Its as though we allow other countries to attend our concerts for free, while they are charging high ticket prices for us to attend theirs.
honestly I love open markets.
The uneven playing field is criminal.
lefty : oh nooooo
america is becoming great again
summer of love 2025 style on their agenda
Trump seems more focused on eliminating trade imbalances, and to do so that will require the EU to reduce non-tariff barriers to US exports.
They’re targeting subsidized exports to the US also. For the EU, the most obvious offender is that businesses get a full rebate on their VAT for any products exported.
Same for multiple actual countries that have announced a willingness to eliminate their tariffs against us entirely. The response in each case has been an additional list of demands they need to comply with that will allow the US to actually increase our exports to their country.
Seems their tariffs themselves are typically not the primary impediment.