New Delhi, September 29, 2025: Shares of Wockhardt are higher by more than 9 percent on September 29, marking its best day in nearly four months, as investors added bets after clarification emerged that US President Trump’s fresh tariff on branded pharma imports will not apply to countries with which American has negotiated agreements – a relief for the European Union and Japan – a move that is expected to help the Indian drugmaker which has manufacturing facilities in Europe.
Wockhardt had acquired French firm Negma to strengthen manufacturing capacity in Europe for formulations and APIs, aside of manufacturing and injectable facility in North Wales, UK. The drug maker has presence in USA, UK, Ireland, Switzerland, Mexico, Russia and many other countries, with research facilities in India and UK, and a manufacturing facility in Ireland. Wockhardt has a significant present in Europe and India with nearly 78 percent of its global revenue coming from international businesses.
Exemptions for US Trade Partners?
While announcing the pharma tariffs, Trump did not specify if the levies would apply over and above the existing tariffs as defined with trade agreements with EU and Japan, and the UK. On September 26, Bloomberg News quoted a US government official who said duties on pharma imports from EU will not exceed 15 percent, as is the tariff framework of the deal. Drug imports from Japan too will be levied the rate defined by the trade pact, said the official.
EU Commission’s deputy spokesperson Olof Gill had on Friday cited the trade agreement as an ‘insurance’ against Trump’s fresh and higher tariffs on pharma imports into US. “This clear all-inclusive 15% tariff ceiling for EU exports represents an insurance policy that no higher tariffs will emerge for European economic operators. The EU is the only trade partner to achieve this outcome with the US,” Olof Gill had said.
