Donald Trump to slap import taxes on medicines, trucks, and furniture

US President Donald Trump holds a signed presidential memorandum in the Oval Office at the White House on Thursday. Pic/AFP

US President Donald Trump has said that he will put import taxes of 100 per cent on pharmaceutical drugs, 50 per cent on kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities, 30 per cent on upholstered furniture and 25 per cent on heavy trucks starting on October 1.

Trump said on Truth Social that the pharmaceutical tariffs would not apply to companies that are building manufacturing plants in the US, which he defined as either "breaking ground" or being "under construction". It was unclear how the tariffs would apply to companies that already have factories in the US.

In 2024, the US imported nearly $233 billion in pharmaceutical and medicinal products, according to the Census Bureau. The prospect of prices doubling for some medicines could send shockwaves to voters as health care expenses, as well as the costs of Medicare and Medicaid, potentially increase.

Trump said that foreign manufacturers of furniture and cabinetry were flooding the US with their products and that tariffs must be applied "for National Security and other reasons". The new tariffs on cabinetry could further increase the costs for homebuilders at a time when many people seeking to buy a house feel priced out by the mix of housing shortages and high mortgage rates.

He also said that foreign-made heavy trucks and parts are hurting domestic producers.

Trump has long maintained that tariffs are the key to forcing companies to invest more in domestic factories. He has dismissed fears that importers would simply pass along much of the cost of the taxes to consumers and businesses in the form of higher prices.

‘Donald Trump is a lying buffoon'

Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar lashed out at US President Donald Trump, branding him a "lying buffoon". Omar, the Minnesota congresswoman and a vocal critic of Trump's immigration policies, on Thursday, fired back on X in response to Trump's latest inflammatory comments, which he made while signing executive orders at the Oval Office. "From denying Somalia had a president to making up a story, President Trump is a lying buffoon. No one should take this embarrassing fool seriously," Omar posted following Trump's remark, stating, "You know, I met the head of Somalia... And I suggested that maybe he'd like to take her back. And he said, ‘I don't want her.'" This is the second time the US President targeted her in the past week.

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