The United States has removed import duties on certain specialised medicines, and the ingredients used to make them, from 20 partner countries and territories including Bangladesh and India. Citing the Indian news agency ANI, Ajker Patrika reports that the US Commerce Department formalised the new structure by publishing a list in the Federal Register.

The duty-free goods include drugs for rare diseases, fertility treatments, advanced cell and gene therapies, antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and veterinary medicines. Their active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) will also enter at zero tariff.

Alongside Bangladesh and India the list names Argentina, Cambodia, Ecuador, El Salvador, the European Union, Guatemala, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Malaysia, North Macedonia, South Korea, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Kingdom and Vietnam. According to the notice, they qualify because they have trade and security framework agreements with Washington that are in force or due to take effect.

The move comes as the US presses ahead with a 100 percent tariff on certain patented drugs. A presidential directive from Donald Trump in April ordered changes to duties on imported pharmaceuticals and chemical inputs under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act. The original 2 April proclamation put a 100 percent tariff on patented drugs, biological products and their ingredients, effective from 31 July for companies on the first list and from 29 September for the other listed companies.

The Commerce Department has confirmed that generic drugs and their ingredients remain outside the Section 232 pharmaceutical tariffs. A recent amendment clarified the definition of 'generic pharmaceutical articles' and brought unpatented veterinary drugs within it.

The report is by Ajker Patrika's desk.

Photo: epSos.de / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Source: Ajker Patrika