WATCH: Trump suggests ‘major tariff on pharmaceuticals’ forthcoming at National Republican Congressional Committee dinner

Politics

President Donald Trump promised Tuesday to impose tariffs on pharmaceuticals so that more medications would be made in the U.S. Some investors didn't wait around to find out the exact details.

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"We're going to be announcing, very shortly, a major tariff on pharmaceuticals," Trump said Tuesday night.

Eli Lilly shares dropped 2.7 percent early Wednesday, while Pfizer shares gave back 2.4 percent. Merck and Johnson & Johnson each fell almost 2 percent. In overseas trading, Novartis shares fell 5.8 percent and Roche Holding dropped 4.6 percent.

Trump lamented that the U.S. no longer produces many of the pharmaceuticals that Americans take, and said new tariffs would change that by bringing production of medication back to the U.S.

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WATCH: Trump suggests ‘major tariff on pharmaceuticals’ forthcoming at National Republican Congressional Committee dinner first appeared on the PBS News website.

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