Roche will invest $50 billion in the United States over five years, the Swiss drugmaker announced on Tuesday, a move that comes amid President Trump’s threats to impost tariffs on pharmaceuticals.
Though pharmaceuticals are typically excluded from tariffs, Trump has looped the industry into his trade war with the rest of the world. Roche joins other European drugmakers like Eli Lilly and Novartis in announcing boosts to operations in the US in recent months.
While European research-based drugmakers are more likely to invest the capex to move manufacturing to the US, most prescriptions are for generic drugs, which predominantly come from Asia, operate on slimmer margins, and are less likely to relocate.