Businesses scramble to decipher Trump’s new wave of tariffs

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday unveiled sweeping new import tariffs, including 100 per cent duties on branded drugs and 25 per cent levies on heavy-duty trucks, set to come into force next week.

The latest salvo, which Trump said was to protect the U.S. manufacturing industry and national security, follows wide-ranging duties on trading partners of up to 50 per cent and other targeted levies on imported products such as steel.

It’s the latest upheaval for global businesses already struggling with snarled supply chains, soaring costs and consumer uncertainty caused by Trump’s trade war. The barrage has cast a pall over global growth, while the Federal Reserve has said it is also contributing to higher U.S. consumer prices.

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“If there is a particular sector where you see a new announcement, of course, that’s going to set you back,” Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Tom Barkin said on Bloomberg TV. “There’s sectors with a lot more clarity, and sectors with a lot less clarity.”

Asian stocks fell, led by pharmaceutical companies, but European shares recovered from early losses amid uncertainty over how widely some of the duties might apply.

Mixed U.S. equity futures indicated that investors were largely shrugging off Trump’s latest tariff announcement, BMO Economics said in a note. “Until the U.S. economy shows more signs of stress from the trade war, investors seem content to keep calm and carry on,” BMO said.

Trump’s announcement on Truth Social did not say whether the new levies would be on top of existing national tariffs. Recent trade deals with Japan, the EU, and Britain include provisions that cap tariffs for specific products like pharmaceuticals.

A non-binding preliminary trade deal between the EU and the U.S. agreed to limit tariffs to 15 per cent. Trump hasn’t yet signed an executive order confirming the agreement.

The European Commission said on Friday the agreement was “clear” that there was an all-inclusive 15 per cent tariff ceiling.

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Japan has an agreement that its tariff rates will not exceed others including the EU, Tokyo’s trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa said.

Trump said the 100 per cent tariff on branded drugs would only apply to producers that had not already broken ground on U.S. manufacturing plants.

Many drugmakers have announced multibillion-dollar investments in the United States, and Switzerland’s Roche underlined on Friday that one of its U.S. units recently started work on a new facility.

Rival Novartis, which has also made a large U.S. investment pledge, did not reply to a request for comment.

Trump had long threatened higher tariffs on drugmakers and Ireland, where mainly American-owned pharmaceutical factories employ about 2 per cent of the workforce, has frontloaded much of its exports to the U.S. in anticipation.

Exports of chemical and related products, including medicinal and pharmaceutical products, leapt 536 per cent year-on-year to €23.9-billion in the first seven months of 2025, according to Ireland’s Central Statistics Office.

Trump also followed through on a pledge to “bring back” America’s furniture business, saying he would start charging a 50 per cent tariff on imported kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities and a 30 per cent tariff on upholstered furniture.

All the new duties take effect from October 1.

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The new actions are seen as part of the Trump administration’s shift to better-established legal authorities for its trade actions, given the risks associated with a case before the Supreme Court on the legality of his global tariffs.

Trump this week announced new probes into the national security ramifications of personal protective equipment, medical items, robotics and industrial machinery. He previously imposed national security tariffs on steel and aluminum and derivatives, light-duty autos and parts, and copper.

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More than half of the US$85.6-billion in ingredients for medicines used in the U.S. are manufactured domestically, with the remainder from Europe and other U.S. allies, the U.S. pharmaceutical trade group said earlier this year.

When it comes to furniture, imports to the U.S. hit US$25.5-billion in 2024, up 7 per cent from the year prior. About 60 per cent of those imports came from Vietnam and China, according to Furniture Today, a trade publication.

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“Many of our members were shocked when we heard the news. I think the decision on the additional tariff is unfair,” said Nguyen Thi Thu Hoai from the Wood and Handicraft Association of Dong Nai province, one of Vietnam’s largest furniture clusters.

Furniture and wood products manufacturing employment in the U.S. has halved since 2000 to around 340,000 today, according to government statistics.

Inter IKEA, which supplies the stores to which it franchises the IKEA brand, has said that around 10 per cent of the IKEA products sold in the U.S. are manufactured in North and South America.

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“We believe a stable and open global trade environment helps support lower prices for people,” IKEA franchisee Ingka Group, the world’s biggest retailer of IKEA furniture, said, adding that it was monitoring the impact of tariffs on its business.

Higher tariffs on commercial vehicles could put pressure on transportation costs just as Trump has vowed to reduce inflation, especially on consumer goods such as groceries.

Trump said the new heavy-duty truck tariffs would benefit companies such as Paccar-owned Peterbilt and Kenworth and Freightliner.

Shares of German truck makers Daimler Truck and Traton fell on news of the levies.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce earlier urged against imposing new truck tariffs, noting the top five import sources are Mexico, Canada, Japan, Germany, and Finland, which pose “no threat to U.S. national security.”