The United States has exempted certain specialized pharmaceutical products and related ingredients imported from Bangladesh from ad valorem tariffs, providing the country with relief from additional duties on a range of medicines used to treat rare diseases and other specialized conditions.
Bangladesh is among 20 countries and jurisdictions included in a U.S. Commerce Department list eligible for a zero-percent tariff on qualifying pharmaceutical products. The list was published in the Federal Register under procedures implementing President Donald Trump’s April 2, 2026, proclamation on pharmaceutical and pharmaceutical-ingredient imports.
The zero-tariff treatment covers several categories of specialized medicines and their associated ingredients. These include drugs for orphan, or rare, diseases; fertility drugs; cell-therapy products; gene-therapy products; antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs); certain medical countermeasures; and animal-health products.
Alongside Bangladesh, the list includes India, Argentina, Cambodia, Ecuador, El Salvador, the European Union, Guatemala, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Malaysia, North Macedonia, South Korea, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Kingdom and Vietnam.
According to the Commerce Department notice, qualifying products from these jurisdictions can receive a zero-percent Section 232 tariff rate because the jurisdictions have current or forthcoming trade and security framework agreements with the United States. The notice also establishes a process through which other pharmaceutical imports may qualify for a zero tariff if they meet an urgent U.S. health need.
Trump announced measures targeting imports of patented pharmaceuticals and associated pharmaceutical ingredients on April 2, with the stated objective of encouraging greater pharmaceutical production in the United States. Under the proclamation, certain patented pharmaceutical imports could face significantly higher duties, while specified products and jurisdictions receive exemptions.
Generic pharmaceuticals and their associated ingredients were not included in the tariff adjustment under the April proclamation.
For Bangladesh, the latest decision means that qualifying specialized pharmaceutical exports to the U.S. market will not face the additional ad valorem tariff covered by this measure, potentially easing the tariff burden on exporters of these products.
