Global pharma is rushing to relocate manufacturing to the US. To reduce dependence on foreign manufacturing sources – most notably from its main economic adversary, China – the Trump administration is putting pressure on pharma to situate production on US soil. This pressure is predominantly taking the form of economic threats, including a proposed 100 percent tariff on non-US produced branded drugs.
Moreover, this is taking place against the backdrop of a pricing squeeze for all medicines in the US market, further compressing margins overall and making imports less attractive once tariffs are factored in. The May 2025 ‘Most Favored Nation’ executive order directs that US purchasers (including government programmes) pay no more than the lowest price other developed countries pay for the same drug, a major step-change for a market renowned for providing the broadest access to innovative medicines globally but at the highest costs.
As the comprehensive list of recently announced manufacturing investments below shows, the pharmaceutical industry is already responding to this uncertain environment in exactly the way that the Trump administration might have hoped. Not wanting to miss out on a USD 800 billion market, which – regardless of pricing changes – remains the golden goose for pharma and represents 40 percent of the global market, both US-headquartered and foreign firms are falling in line.
Some are coming with concrete proposals for new US facilities, while others have released vaguer long-term investment proposals. Regardless of the details, these announcements show clearly the new rules of engagement for pharma. It, like other industries, is now operating in a world in which the US is increasingly unabashed in leveraging its economic power.
Planned and Upcoming Investments
Abbvie: AbbVie is to invest USD 195 million in Illinois API manufacturing expansion (August 2025)
Lilly: Eli Lilly to make weight-loss pill in new USD 6.5 billion Texas plant (September 2025)
Already Completed Investments
Announced Pending Further Details
AstraZeneca unveils USD 50 billion US investment as pharma tariff threat looms (July 2025)
Bristol Myers Squibb to invest USD 40 billion in the US over 5 years (May 2025)
Cover image: Eli Lilly’s proposed USD five billion manufacturing facility in Virginia (Source: Eli Lilly, PR Newswire)
