The European Union and the United States agreed on a new trade agreement on July 27. In the future, almost all European goods exports to the USA will be subject to a 15 percent tariff – including pharmaceutical products. From the perspective of the Association of Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (vfa), this is a consequential step backward for global healthcare and the innovation location Europe, as the association argued in a press release
on July 28.
Han Steutel, President of the vfa, commented: “The good news is that an agreement between the USA and the European Union is possible. A trade war would have further escalated the already great uncertainty.” Nevertheless, the consequences for the pharmaceutical industry are drastic.
Steutel says:
“This deal breaks with the foundations of transatlantic trade. It undermines the rules of the World Trade Organization and ends the achievement of free
trade in medicines. The USA is our most important trading partner. This agreement now seals billion-dollar burdens for Germany as a pharmaceutical location. These are not good news for jobs and investments. We urgently need to do our homework for Germany as an industrial location.”
“International Patient Care at Risk”
According to the vfa, the new tariff is likely to lead not only to significant additional costs for manufacturers but also to
endanger international patient care. For decades, the duty-free exchange of medicines has been an important basis for the smooth supply and close cooperation between the EU and the USA, the association says.
“The measure sends a fatal signal: Especially at a time when global health crises require cooperation, trade policy becomes a plaything of strategic interests,” Steutel continues. “The EU must urgently counteract – in terms of securing the location and supply.”
