Trump takes two approaches: drug tariffs push up drug prices, new visa regulations strictly screen international students on social media.
Pharmaceutical tariffs and visa reviews, two seemingly unrelated policies, are simultaneously reshaping the economic security and openness image of the United States.
On Tuesday morning, Trump announced to reporters on Air Force One that the United States would “soon” impose trade tariffs on pharmaceutical products, reaffirming his intention to force pharmaceutical manufacturers to move their production bases back to the United States.
He cited the investigation conducted by the Ministry of Commerce under Section 232 of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act, claiming: “We will soon impose taxes on medicines. This will bring all companies back to the United States.”
Almost simultaneously, the US State Department announced a controversial new visa review policy. Within the next five working days, US embassies and consulates abroad will fully resume student visa interview services.
According to the document signed by Secretary Rubio, all foreign individuals applying for academic, vocational training and exchange visit visas are required to fully disclose the contents of their personal social media accounts to the consular officials, in order to cooperate with the “national security risk assessment”.
The drug tariff plan of the Trump administration has been in the making for several months. In April this year, the US Trade Representative Office officially launched an investigation, triggering a 21-day public consultation period. Now, this policy has entered the final sprint stage and the specific details are expected to be announced within the next two weeks.
A report commissioned by the trade organization of the US pharmaceutical industry indicates that a 25% tariff would cause an annual increase of $51 billion in drug costs in the US.
Ernst & Young estimates that the price of finished drugs will rise by up to 12.9%, with the tariff on raw materials pushing up the domestic production cost by 4.1%.
The import volume of US drugs in 2023 reached $203 billion, with 73% coming from Europe, with Ireland, Germany and Switzerland being the main source countries.
Pharmaceutical companies are urgently lobbying the government to adopt a phased implementation approach to mitigate the impact. The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) has called on the EU president to push for “swift and fundamental actions” to prevent the industry from relocating abroad.
Chinese pharmaceutical companies are accelerating their strategic adjustments: BeiGene has activated its production base in New Jersey to achieve local production; Legend Pharmaceuticals is promoting the mass production of its core product, Le, at the factory in Suzhou; Hengrui Medicine, however, is adopting a wait-and-see attitude as its overseas business accounts for only 2.56% of its total.
In April, during a closed-door meeting with the CEOs of Eli Lilly, Merck and Pfizer, Trump stated: “Tariffs are coming. These companies should accelerate the transfer of their overseas production to the United States.”
Along with the drug tariffs, the drastic tightening of international student visa policies also caused a stir. On June 18th, the US State Department suddenly announced the resumption of the 20-day suspension of appointments for F, M, and J types of visas, and at the same time issued an unprecedented social media review directive.
Applicants must set all their social media to “public” mode. Limiting access is regarded as “an attempt to hide activities”.
Consular officers will screen three types of content: “signs of hostility” towards American institutions and culture, support for terrorist acts, and anti-Semitic violent incitement.
The review scope goes far beyond social platforms and covers “all online activities”. Officials can use search engines and government databases to detect suspicious content, and once such content is identified, a thorough review will be triggered.
The new regulations have raised multiple concerns. Legal experts question the ambiguity of the “hostile” definition – do they criticize the US policy as a reason for visa denial? The education sector is more worried about its erosion of academic freedom.
Sarah Sprace, the chief of staff of the American Council on Education, warned that this sends a “unwelcome” signal to students worldwide. The data confirm the risks: the rejection rate for international students reached a historical peak of 36.3% in 2023, and the number of Chinese students dropped to 277,000, a decrease of 100,000 from the peak, reaching the lowest level in a decade.
The irony of the shift in international student visa policies is that it is now threatening the “cash cow” that is crucial to the US economy.
In the 2023/24 academic year, international students contributed 43.8 billion US dollars to the US economy, and their consumption directly supported 378,000 jobs.
International students in STEM fields accounted for 56%, and they are the core driving force behind the US’s technological competitiveness.
The new visa regulations particularly affect high-level talents. A study by the University of California, Davis shows that for every 150 international students, one entrepreneurial company can be born, with an efficiency 8-9 times higher than that of local students; the companies they establish are more likely to obtain high financing and patents. When OPT and H-1B visas have already caused 29% of international students to leave the United States due to identity issues, social media censorship will further accelerate the brain drain.
The impact of these two policies extends far beyond the borders of the United States and is reshaping the global industrial landscape.
European pharmaceutical giants are facing a dilemma: either bear the impact of tariffs or set up factories in the US. Companies like Novartis and Bayer are accelerating the shipment of their inventories to the US to avoid risks, while Indian generic drug manufacturers have unexpectedly benefited – it is expected that they will account for 50% of the global generic drug market by 2030.
Chinese innovative pharmaceutical companies are shifting to a diversified strategy: BeiGene is exploring supply chains in Southeast Asia; Hengang Medicine’s fruquintinib is being launched simultaneously in over a dozen countries; License-out transactions have soared, reaching 29 by the beginning of 2025, expanding from the oncology field to autoimmune, metabolic diseases.
The appeal of American universities has continued to decline. The “2025 China Overseas Study Blue Book” shows that for the first time, the United States has dropped out of the top three most popular study destinations, trailing behind the United Kingdom, Singapore, and Canada. Although India surpassed China with 330,000 students studying abroad, the new visa regulations have also threatened this growth.
Temple University and other institutions have increased scholarships to address the 68% economic anxiety of international students; they have also provided cross-cultural counseling to alleviate the social anxiety of 33% of the students. However, when academic freedom gives way to ideological censorship, the remedial measures appear powerless.
The estimated economic contribution of 43.8 billion US dollars from international students and the projected 51 billion US dollars increase in drug prices quantify the costs of these two policies.
European pharmaceutical giants have warned that tariffs will accelerate the relocation of industries to the United States; meanwhile, the lowest number of Chinese students studying in the US in a decade is witnessing the erosion of academic freedom under social media censorship.
As the global industrial chain and talent chain simultaneously tremble, “America First” is leaving deep marks on the world map.
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