COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO)– Big changes could be coming to your medicine cabinet. Starting Oct. 1, President Trump announced the U.S. will impose new tariffs on imported pharmaceuticals.
Imported branded drugs will face a 100% tariff unless manufacturers are already building pharmaceutical plants in the U.S.
Pharmacies say that could push prices higher for patients.
“So we either gotta be ready for it whatever we got put away to help pay bills it could blow right through and then we’ll have to make a choice do we help these customers that we’ve been helping for in some respects since we’ve been open 50 years or do we have to tell them you gotta go to a chain we can’t afford to do this” said Jim Sajbel Jr. manager at Jim Sajbel prescription shop.
For decades, Jim Sajbel’s prescription shop has been a neighborhood staple. Customers like Ann Miller have been using this shop since 1981, and even with looming Tariffs, she has no plans to stop using this pharmacy.
“My insurance covers it, it tells me how much it’s gonna pay, so it doesn’t matter where I go, it’s gonna be the same amount.” Miller also said she enjoys this pharmacy because they make her feel like family.
That loyalty, Jim Jr. says, is what keeps them going, even as expenses climb and competition grows from national chains.
For now, pharmacy owners say they’re bracing for what comes next, while their customers say they’ll continue to come back either way.
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