The announced 100% tariff on pharmaceuticals, 25% on trucks, and 30% on furniture, due to come into effect on October 1, reopen the US president\u2019s trade war.<\/p>\n
United States President Donald Trump<\/a> has announced steep new tariffs on pharmaceutical products, big-rig trucks, and home renovation fixtures and furniture.<\/p>\n The announcement late on Thursday signalled the harshest trade plans from Trump since last April\u2019s shock unveiling of reciprocal tariffs on virtually every US<\/a> trading partner across the globe, marking a revival of the Republican president\u2019s trade war.<\/p>\n Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n Starting on October 1, \u201cwe will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any branded or patented Pharmaceutical Product, unless a Company IS BUILDING their Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plant in America,\u201d Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.<\/p>\n Shares of pharmaceutical companies across Asia with big exposure to the US market fell on Friday, including South Korea\u2019s Samsung Biologics.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s move was criticised by Australia, which exported pharmaceutical products worth an estimated $1.3bn to the US in 2024, according to the United Nations Comtrade Database.<\/p>\n In a separate post, Trump wrote of a 25 percent tariff on \u201call \u2018Heavy (Big) Trucks\u2019 made in other parts of the world\u201d to support US manufacturers such as \u201cPeterbilt, Kenworth, Freightliner, Mack Trucks and others\u201d.<\/p>\n Foreign companies that compete with these manufacturers in the US market include Sweden\u2019s Volvo and Germany\u2019s Daimler. Shares in both companies were sharply lower in after-hours trading in Europe.<\/p>\n Trump said the truck tariffs were \u201cfor many reasons, but above all else, for National Security purposes!\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier this year, the Trump administration launched a so-called Section 232 probe into imports of trucks to \u201cdetermine the effects of national security\u201d, setting the stage for Thursday\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n Section 232 is a trade law provision that gives the president broad authority to impose tariffs or other restrictions on imports when they are deemed a threat to national security.<\/p>\n Trump also said a 50 percent tariff on home renovation materials and a 30 percent tariff on upholstered furniture would be imposed, as he claimed that such products were swamping the US market from abroad.<\/p>\n According to the US International Trade Commission, in 2022, imports, mainly from Asia, represented 60 percent of all furniture sold, including 86 percent of all wood furniture and 42 percent of all upholstered furniture.<\/p>\n Shares in home furniture retailers Wayfair and Williams Sonoma, which depend on these imported goods, tumbled in after-hours trading.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s administration has already imposed a baseline 10 percent tariff<\/a> on all countries, with higher individualised rates on nations where exports to the US far exceed imports.<\/p>\n Trump has also used emergency powers to impose extra tariffs on trade deal partners<\/a> Canada and Mexico, as well as on China, citing concerns over fentanyl trafficking and undocumented migration.<\/p>\n It was not yet clear how these new tariffs would factor into the existing measures.<\/p>\n