For fear of Trump's tariff hammer Novartis sends giant airplane with medicines to the USA
The Swiss pharmaceutical industry is coming under pressure due to Donald Trump's customs policy. To avoid the threat of import duties, Novartis is flying medicines to the USA at high speed - with cargo planes full of products.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Donald Trump announces drastic tariffs on pharmaceutical imports.
- Novartis responds with express deliveries to the USA - sometimes even despite the ban on night flights.
- US customs authorities accept late deliveries if they are on their way in advance.
Last week, Euro-Airport Basel-Mulhouse presented an unusual picture: three fully loaded cargo planes - including two Boeing 747s - were ready to take off for the USA. Their contents: pharmaceutical products, mainly from the Basel-based pharmaceutical giant Novartis. The reason for the rush? Donald Trump's new tariff offensive.
At the end of last week, the US President announced at an event organized by the National Republican Congressional Committee that he was planning "tariffs on a scale never seen before " - specifically now also on medicines and pharmaceutical precursors. These punitive tariffs are intended to encourage pharmaceutical companies to relocate more of their activities to the USA.
Novartis reacts immediately - Roche follows suit
Novartis in particular apparently wasted no time: Two planes - one from Silkway West Airlines, the other from Cargolux - transported express freight to Huntsville, Alabama, as initially reported by "BZ Basel". Roche, on the other hand, is planning to expand its production capacities at its existing US plants - another precautionary response to Trump's escalation course.
An incident involving the 747 of Silkway West shows that things had to be done quickly: following a hydraulic problem, the aircraft did not take off until 11.22 p.m. despite the ban on night flights - knowing full well that this could result in a hefty fine.
The haste paid off: The US customs authorities declared that all goods that were already loaded and in transit would not be subject to the newly announced tariffs - even if they arrived after the deadline.
Swiss pharma under pressure
Switzerland is being hit particularly hard by Trump's new customs policy. A general surcharge of 10 percent on all US imports is already in force, followed today by specific additional rates of up to 32 percent. Pharmaceutical products are still formally exempt from this. However, Trump has explicitly named the industry as a future target. The pharmaceutical industry is Switzerland's most important export driver.
Euro-Airport confirmed a significant increase in pharmaceutical exports to the USA to "BZ Basel": "Since the beginning of the year, we have seen a strong increase in export volumes to the USA - especially in the months before the official announcement of the tariffs," it said. Shortly before Trump's speech, there were three additional charter flights.
It is currently unclear whether the threatened tariffs will remain in place. Trump is considered unpredictable and has already targeted the pharmaceutical industry several times. The market is reacting cautiously accordingly: after the first wave of transport, export activity has flattened out again. Euro-Airport speaks of a "wait-and-see attitude" in the market - a forecast on further developments is currently not possible.
