Sticking to their guns on the tariffs while there is an ongoing oil crisis, Trump announces a 100% tariff on patented drugs and a new 25% tariff on copper, aluminum, and steel derivatives.

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A year after ‘Liberation Day,’ Trump sets new drug tariffs, adjusts metals duties

In a new proclamation revealing the results of a long-awaited national security investigation into pharmaceutical imports, Trump said foreign manufacturers of patented products must agree to make deals with the U.S. government to cut prescription-drug prices and commit to moving ​production to the United States.
They must do both to avoid tariffs altogether and will face a 20% tariff if they simply move some manufacturing to the U.S., according to an ​administration official. Those who do neither would face a 100% duty.
The tariffs will not apply to drug imports from all countries. Branded drug tariffs ⁠will be capped at 15% under trade deals with the European Union, Japan, South Korea and Switzerland.
The U.S. and Britain also finalized a separate pharmaceuticals tariff deal that guarantees zero tariffs on British-made pharmaceuticals ​for at least three years as Britain builds out production in the United States.
An administration official said large pharmaceutical companies would have 120 days to comply before the 100% tariff rates kicked in, ​and smaller producers would have 180 days.

The core issue here is not the intent of the tariffs but the structure of dependency underneath them, because the US import mix for steel and aluminum is heavily concentrated in Canada, Mexico, and Brazil, meaning any broad tariff hits allied supply chains first, not distant strategic rivals. In copper, the situation is even more constrained because domestic smelting and refining capacity has been reduced over decades of offshoring, which limits the ability to quickly substitute imports when tariffs increase landed costs. That combination creates a mechanical pass-through effect into manufacturing inputs, construction, automotive production, and defense procurement, regardless of where the tariff burden is formally assigned. At the same time, linking this to energy market volatility like Strait of Hormuz disruptions amplifies the pricing pressure across multiple cost channels at once. The result is not a single shock absorbed by one country, but layered cost increases transmitted through tightly connected industrial systems.