The majority of the largest exporters of medicines to the United States (seven out of 10) recorded double-digit year-on-year growth.
The United States is the largest global importer of these products, with 94,663 million dollars in 2024, according to data from the Department of Commerce. This represented an 8% annual increase.
In turn, India was the main foreign supplier, with sales of 12,236 million dollars and a growth double the average of 16 percent.
Exporters of medicines to the United States
The referred exports include medicines consisting of mixed or unmixed products, prepared for therapeutic or prophylactic uses, dosed (including those administered transdermally) or packaged for retail sale.
On the other hand, they do not include antisera and articles impregnated or coated with pharmaceutical substances or packaged for medical, surgical, dental or veterinary purposes, among others.
The following are the largest exporters of medicines to the United States in 2024, in millions of dollars and year-on-year growth rates, according to data from the World Trade Organization (WTO):
- India: 12,236 (+16 percent).
- Switzerland: 11,876 (+21 percent).
- Ireland: 11,679 (-10 percent).
- Italy: 6,612 (+20 percent).
- China: 6,121 (+37 percent)
- Germany: 5,795 (-13 percent).
- Slovakia: 5,156 (+80 percent).
- Canada: 4,372 (-8 percent).
- Belgium: 4,285 (+147 percent).
- Hungary: 4,276 (+56 percent).
U.S. market
The United States operates with a fragmented healthcare system. This structure complicates price negotiation and, as a result, drives up costs. In addition, the country relies on imported drugs due to its low production of active pharmaceutical ingredients. Most of them come from China and India.
Against this backdrop, former President Donald Trump stated in April 2025 during a National Republican Congressional Committee event, “We are going to impose tariffs on our pharmaceuticals, and once we do that, they will come running back to our country because we are the big market.”
With this statement, Trump underscored his plan to reduce foreign dependence and promote domestic manufacturing. To reinforce this policy, in May 2025 he signed an executive order directing the FDA to strengthen oversight of imported ingredients and to evaluate the publication of a list of facilities that do not meet regulatory standards.