Pfizer gets three-year reprieve from Trump pharma tariffs

Pfizer Inc CEO Albert Bourla said the company secured a three-year grace period from President Donald Trump's promised tariffs on pharmaceuticals in a deal that would lower some of the company's US drug prices.

Pfizer will sell some drugs at a 50% average discount on a direct-to-consumer website called TrumpRx, an initiative intended to allow Americans to pay for prescriptions at discounted rates negotiated by the government.

The deal appears to resolve two major threats facing Pfizer. It would stave off more damaging drug pricing policies while shielding the company from future tariffs imposed by the administration's Section 232 investigation into whether the cost of medicine represents a national security threat.

It's the latest example of the transactional nature of winning tariff exemptions from Trump, who has unilaterally wielded trade policy to exert power over multiple industries. As recently as last week, Trump threatened 100% tariffs on the pharma industry.