Trump has announced a new large wave of customs duties: from 100% for original drugs up to 50% on kitchen furniture

President Donald Trump on Thursday revealed a new round of customs duties for a wide range of products imported to the United States, including a 100% surcharge for original drugs and a 25% tax for heavy trucks, additions that will enter into force next week, Reuters reports.

In the announcement of the president on his Social Truth network, it is not specified whether the new taxes will be applied in addition to those imposed in relation to certain countries or if the partners with whom he has commercial agreements, such as the European Union and Japan, will be exempted.

Trump has also said that the United States will begin to perceive a 50% customs duty for kitchen cabinets and bathroom furniture and a 30% customs duty for upholstered furniture, all new taxes will enter into force from October 1.

“The reason is the large -scale” flooding “of the United States with these products from other countries,” Trump wrote on Social Truth on customs duties applied to household products.

The actions of the Asian pharmaceutical companies decreased, investors reacting to this news. An index that follows furniture manufacturers quoted in China has also decreased by 1.1%.

The new measures are considered part of the change of the Trump administration strategy to the legal categories better established for its commercial actions, given the risks associated with a case before the Supreme Court regarding the legality of its global tariffs.

The new 100% customs duty applied to any brand or patented pharmaceutical product will apply to all imports, unless the company has already started the construction of a factory in the United States, said Trump.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America Association, a employer in the field, said that companies “continue to announce new investments of hundreds of billions in the US. Taxes endanger these plans.”

Trump has transformed customs duties into a key tool of his external policy, using them to renegotiate commercial agreements, to obtain concessions and to exert political pressure on other countries. His administration promoted customs duties as an important source of revenue, the secretary of Treasury, Scott Besent, saying that Washington could collect $ 300 billion by the end of the year.

Trump has previously imposed national security fees for steel and aluminum and derivatives, light vehicles and car parts, as well as copper.

Countries with commercial agreements, probably prosthesized by new rounds

The commercial agreements of the Trump administration with Japan, the EU and the United Kingdom include provisions that limit customs duties for certain products, suggesting that new higher taxes will probably not lift them over the agreed quotas.

Japan evaluates how the new measures relate to its agreement with the US, said Akazawa Chief Negotiator Akazawa on Friday.

He stressed, however, that the taxes imposed on Japanese drugs will not be higher than in other countries, because Tokyo has obtained the most favored nation status for these products and others.

The American pharmaceutical patronage said earlier this year that 53% of $ 85.6 billion in ingredients used in drugs consumed in the United States was manufactured in the US, the rest from Europe and other US allies.

In terms of furniture, imports in the United States reached $ 25.5 billion in 2024, up 7% compared to the previous year. About 60% of these imports came from Vietnam and China, according to the commercial Furniture Today.

In August, Trump promised that he will impose new furniture taxes, stating that this “will bring the furniture industry” in North Carolina, South Carolina and Michigan.

According to government statistics, the number of jobs in the furniture production and wooden products in 2000 has been in about 340,000.