Trump’s tariffs could hit UK medicine supply, Wes Streeting warns

US tariffs could adversely affect the supply of medicines to the UK, the health secretary has said.

Donald Trump announced a wide range of “reciprocal” tariffs on goods imported into the US, including a 10% levy on the UK as well as 20% on the EU, 34% on China and 46% on Vietnam.

It triggered a rout on stock markets worldwide, with plunges not seen since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, wiping out trillions of dollars in value.

Wes Streeting told Sky News that the chaos caused by the fears of a global trade war could disrupt supplies of medicine.

“As ever in terms of medicines, there’s a number of factors at play,” he said. “There have been challenges in terms of manufacturing, challenges in terms of distribution, and if we start to see tariffs kicking in, that’s another layer of challenge, but we watch this situation extremely closely.”

He added: “We are constantly watching and acting on this situation to try and get medicines into the country, to make sure we’ve got availability, to show some flexibility in terms of how medicines are dispensed, to deal with shortages.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Streeting said patient data was “not for sale” as part of any trade negotiations with the US designed to mitigate the impact of the tariffs.

“The NHS is not for sale and our patients’ data is not for sale,” Streeting said.

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Source: The Guardian, 8 April 2025