The imposition of US pharmaceutical tariffs would have widespread and multidimensional impacts, even on companies located far from American shores, including in Vietnam.
Vietnam is increasingly integrated into global pharmaceutical value chains. Many of our member companies are subsidiaries or partners of multinational corporations headquartered in the US or Europe, and they rely on complex cross-border networks to supply pharmaceutical ingredients, finished products, research reagents, and regulatory-grade components.
Tariffs imposed by the US could disrupt these flows, increase operational costs, and create uncertainty that deters investment in local manufacturing and innovation.
Additionally, Vietnam’s pharmaceutical industry is evolving but remains heavily import-dependent, with over 90 per cent of its active ingredients and finished drugs still sourced from abroad.
Should the US impose broad tariffs, the impact could be passed down the value chain, ultimately affecting Vietnamese healthcare providers, patients, and public procurement programmes.
For member companies involved in export from Vietnam, any shifts in global trade alignment could also undermine market access.
How can the supply chain deal with new tariff changes, and how might they reshape the industry?
Pharmaceutical supply chains are highly sensitive, tightly regulated, and globally distributed. These characteristics make them uniquely vulnerable to trade shocks like tariffs.
Many Vietnamese-based manufacturers import critical raw materials, ingredients, excipients, and packaging components from US-linked sources. If these items become more expensive or logistically constrained due to tariffs, production timelines could be delayed, costs could rise significantly, and product availability could be jeopardised.
In the pharmaceutical sector, even small changes to suppliers or raw materials often require costly and time-consuming revalidation and re-registration under Vietnam’s marketing authorisation system. Inflexible regulatory processes exacerbate the challenge of adapting to trade disruptions.
Vietnam is positioning itself as a manufacturing hub for international firms. However, if parent companies in the US face pressure to localise or relocate production due to tariffs, this could delay planned technology transfers or expansions in Vietnam.
Tariffs could trigger a decoupling of previously integrated supply chains, especially if companies are forced to split operations between tariffed and non-tariffed regions. This not only increases costs, but reduces economies of scale and undermines predictability.
What are the priorities and preparations among your member companies to ease the impacts of new tariffs?
Member companies are actively preparing for such scenarios through a combination of risk mitigation, localisation, and policy engagement.
For resilience, companies are identifying alternative suppliers, creating redundancy in critical sourcing areas, and regionalising their production bases. There is growing interest in ASEAN-based procurement and manufacturing to avoid overexposure to US-linked disruptions.
Regarding localisation and investment, several members are preparing their plans to produce or package certain products locally in Vietnam. However, they note that this requires clear, consistent regulatory guidance and stronger intellectual property protection frameworks.
What are your expectations of the Vietnamese government when it comes to this issue?
We believe Vietnam has a timely opportunity to demonstrate regional leadership by adopting a proactive, coordinated approach to protect healthcare security while maintaining openness to trade and investment.
We suggest the following policy priorities. First is advancing high-level diplomatic engagement. Vietnam should work with US counterparts to underscore the importance of exempting essential healthcare goods from broad tariff regimes.
The second aspect is strengthening domestic regulatory capacity. Tariffs will force companies to adapt quickly, and so Vietnam should continue improving the efficiency and predictability of its drug registration system, particularly regarding dossier updates, supplier changes, and authorisation extensions.
Next, Vietnam can turn crisis into opportunity by creating incentives for localised production of critical components such as ingredients, biologicals, and secondary packaging, especially through public-private partnerships and targeted infrastructure investment.
The final factor is enhancing coordination with the private sector, and institutionalising formal mechanisms for government–industry dialogue to provide early warning of trade disruptions and shape agile policy responses. This could take the form of regular roundtables, working groups, or a national task force on pharma trade resilience.
