By imposing a prohibitive 100% tariff on imports of “branded” and patented medicines, US President Donald Trump wants to force all suppliers of high-value proprietary medicines in the US to make them locally. He also wants home-grown elements of Big Pharma to shun offshoring of pharmaceutical manufacturing and research.

However, the stratospheric tariff is unlikely to help him meet the chief goal of gaining control over the global supply chains of medicines. Businesses rarely accept models forced on them; rather they find ways to bypass such hurdles, and grow autonomously. Global drug research and the business of manufacturing new drugs have already seen a fair amount of diversification in recent years, with China emerging as a key destination.

Also, the conventional Big Pharma of the We

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