Global trade friction sparked by Trump tariffs could put 85% of NHS medicines at risk, ministers warned

The availability of approximately 85 percent of the NHS medicine could be at risk unless the British government strengthens its supply chains to prepare for the aggravating geopolitical tension, ministers have been warned.

Manufacturers in Britain have requested the government to treat it as a defense issue, with the supply of drugs such as antibiotics that are threatened as global tensions continue to rise as a result of Donald Trump’s decision to impose heavy rates around the world.

If pharmaceutical and medical suppliers are hit by the US guided tariff war, the NHS can pay more for medicine, another expert said.

The warnings come after West Streeting, health secretary, said that medicine supplies in the UK could be influenced by the rates imposed by President Trump on the trade.

Mr. Streeting said during an interview on Sky News that there are a ‘number of factors in the game’ when it comes to the UK’s offer of medicine, including manufacturing and distribution challenges, and he warned that rates ‘another layer of challenge’ pose.

The health secretary responded after the US president said he was not looking for the livestock tariffs that plunged world markets to unrest. Although the US rates have released the pharmaceutical industry so far, some medical devices and equipment are affected, so UK manufacturers will still be hit by 10 and 20 percent rates when exporting to the US.

Some companies that rely a lot on exports to the US are likely to consider moving their manufacturing from the UK to America, according to RBC analysts quoted in Endpoints News, which can push prices higher for British. The UK also imports £ 4.5 billion to US medical products, where businesses can raise prices due to rates on imported raw materials.

Mark Samuels, CEO of the British Generic Manufacturers Association (BGMA), which represents medicine manufacturers in Britain, said The independent: ‘There have been about 100 products (medicines) in deficiency in recent years or about, and it is in peacetime, so it seems to me that it would make sense to treat the country’s medicine offer like defense … [medicines supplies] Should be absolutely on the same level as defense. “

The BGMA chief said the government should prepare for the volatile geopolitical situation to print the British supply chain in addition. ‘I would expect the government to make the resilience of the supply chain for generic and other everyday medicine their top priority. It was not a priority at previous governments. During the pandemic, the government woke up from most prescription drugs – 85 percent of the NHS prescriptions are generic.

‘It makes complete sense [to treat it like defence]Especially because we have different state actors involved in the hostile activity of the gray zone. A good example of this is antibiotics. We make no antibiotics in the UK: it is not a resilient situation to be in. ‘

Other “life -critical” medicines, such as medicines used by heart patients to prevent sudden death syndrome, would also be vulnerable, he said.

Generic -based medicine is copies of branded nicknames that contain the same active ingredients.

Last year, the BGMA warned Medicine deficits were about double the number recorded in 2023, with important antibiotics, hormone replacement therapy and attention deficit disorders of severe deficits.

Mr. Samuels also said ministers should focus on renegotiating trade agreements to Brexit medicine with the EU, which negatively affected the manufacturing industry in the UK. Current rules do not allow UK manufacturers to sell medicines they have made to the block, but allow EU manufacturers to sell to the UK.

Inventory would be a short -term solution, he said, but it would have some extra costs.

Although no rates have been imposed on pharmaceutical products yet, Dr. Sanchayan Banerjee, a behavioral economist at the London School of Economics, emphasizes that the medical and pharmaceutical sector was the second largest UK exporter in the US. Trade was £ 6.6 billion, with the US about 40-50 percent of total sale for UK companies such as Astradeneka and GlaxoSmithCline.

Did he say The independent: “A reduced offer could mean higher prices for consumer medication, which will mostly fall on the NHS, which is already strongly subsidizing drugs.

“To ease the pressure and encourage those who can afford to go private; to encourage medicine; and modest increases in prescription costs will help alleviate these costs.”

The government was approached for comment.