How Will 100% Tariffs on Pharmaceuticals Produced Outside of U.S. Affect Aesthetics?

CC Exclusive Analysis

Today, President Trump announced that a 100% tariff will be imposed on patented pharmaceutical products produced outside the United States beginning on Wednesday, October 1, 2025. However, like so many of the recent tariff threats, this one is ambiguous and has a number of exceptions, including whether the pharmaceutical company in question has broken ground on U.S. manufacturing facilities … if they have, they will be exempted from the tariffs.

But even that doesn’t seem to be a simple safety net. An administration official told The Washington Post “… that tariff exemptions would apply only to individual drugs that companies choose to make in the United States rather than abroad. ‘These waivers would apply to each specific product as opposed to a companywide waiver,’ said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the process is still being crafted.” This means that a company wouldn’t get a sweeping exemption for all of its products if only some of them are manufactured in the U.S. Only those manufactured in the U.S. would be exempted.

Another ambiguity is whether these tariffs will stand as previous tariffs imposed by the president in April are being presently argued in court to determine their legality.

According to the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, the European Union and the United States already have a trade agreement in place that ensured no more than a 15% tariff on pharmaceuticals manufactured by E.U. countries and imported by the U.S. So, Galderma’s Restylane may fall under this lesser tariff since it is manufactured in Sweden.

However, for countries outside of the E.U., it would seem the 100% tariff would still apply if manufacturers don’t meet the exemptions. So, for example, it is unclear whether a product like Botox from a company like Allergan would be hit with these tariffs since Allergan has U.S. manufacturing for other products, but Botox is largely produced in Ireland, a non-E.U. country.

As with most sweeping policies, it seems only time will tell which aesthetics companies will be affected and which won’t. Regardless, depending how the tariff situation shakes out, additional costs will be incurred by major manufacturers in the aesthetics space and, as with all economic trends, it is almost guaranteed that these costs will trickle down to the medical aesthetic practices and, ultimately, their patients. Stay tuned for more as this situation continues.