NEW YORK (AP) — United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday that could impose tariffs of up to 100% on some patented medicines from companies that do not reach agreements with his government in the coming months.

Companies that have signed a “most favored nation” pricing agreement and are actively building facilities in the United States to move production of patented drugs and their ingredients there will have a 0% tariff. For those that do not have a price agreement but are building projects of this type in the United States, a 20% tariff will apply, although it will increase to 100% in four years.

A senior government official told reporters on a conference call that companies still have months to negotiate before the 100% tariffs take effect: 120 days for the largest companies and 180 days for everyone else. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the executive order before it was issued, did not identify any companies or drugs that were at risk of receiving the tariff increase, but noted that the government had already reached 17 pricing agreements with big pharma, 13 of which have already been signed.

In the order, Trump wrote that he considered these measures necessary “to address the potential deterioration of national security posed by imports of pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical ingredients.” The order was announced on the first anniversary of Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day,” when the president unveiled new tariff rates on imports on nearly every country in the world, rocking the stock market. Those tariffs were among the levies that the Supreme Court struck down in February.

Some warned of the consequences of the tariffs announced Thursday. Stephen J. Ubl, chief executive of the pharmaceutical industry trade group PhRMA, said taxes “on cutting-edge drugs will increase costs and could put billions in U.S. investments at risk.” He noted the already extensive presence of the United States in biopharmaceutical production and noted that drugs obtained from other countries “the vast majority come from reliable allies of the United States.”

Trump has launched a barrage of new tariffs on America’s trading partners since the start of his second term, and has repeatedly promised sky-high levies on medicines made abroad. But the government has also used the threat of new tariffs to strike deals with big companies — such as Pfizer, Eli Lilly and Bristol Myers Squibb — over the past year, with promises of lower prices for new drugs.

Beyond company-specific rates, a handful of countries have reached trade frameworks with the United States to further limit tariffs on medicines. The United States will apply a 15% tariff on patented drugs to the European Union, Japan, South Korea and Switzerland, matching previously agreed rates for most goods, and will impose a 10% tariff rate on the United Kingdom, which, Thursday’s order noted, “will then be reduced to zero” under future trade agreements. The United Kingdom had previously said it had secured a 0% tariff rate on all medicines exported to the United States for at least three years.

Trump also presents an update on metal tariffs

Also on Thursday, Trump released an update on his 50% tariffs on steel, aluminum and copper. Starting Monday, tariff rates on those metals will be calculated based on the “full customs value” of what customers in the United States pay when purchasing foreign metal, according to the latest order, which government officials said will prevent importers from other countries from avoiding higher payments.

Products made entirely of steel, aluminum and copper will continue to be subject to a 50% tariff for most countries. But the government will also change the way it calculates tariffs for derived metals — or finished goods that contain some of these metals, but are not made entirely of them.

For a product whose metal makes up less than 15% of its total weight (such as the lid of a perfume bottle), only country-specific tariffs will now apply, officials told reporters Thursday. But for products with more metal, such as a mostly steel washing machine, they indicated that a tariff of 25% will be applied to the total value.

More sectoral taxes accumulate

Thursday’s orders are another example of Trump’s use of sectoral levies. The president used Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 to impose the tariffs, the same authority he cited to impose taxes on imports of automobiles, lumber and even kitchen cabinets. And many expect to see more product-specific tariffs later.

That’s because a Supreme Court ruling struck down blanket tariffs that Trump imposed using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977.

Although the February 20 court decision represented a significant blow to Trump’s economic agenda, the president still has many options to continue taxing imports aggressively. In addition to the sectoral levies, Trump also imposed a 10% tariff on all imports under another legal authority, just hours after the Supreme Court ruling, but that levy can only last 150 days. About two dozen states have already challenged the new tariffs.

Trump has maintained that his new taxes on imports are necessary to recover the wealth that was “stolen” from the United States. He claims they will reduce the decades-long U.S. trade deficit and bring manufacturing back to the country. But Trump has also resorted to tariffs over personal grudges or in response to political critics. And disrupting the global supply chain has proven costly for businesses and households already under pressure from rising prices.

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This story was translated from English by an AP editor with the help of a generative artificial intelligence tool.

Today’s edition of quick hits.

* Iran’s military assets still matter: “An American fighter jet carrying two crew members was shot down today by Iranian forces, a U.S. official told MS NOW. The military has rescued a pilot of the F-15E, and a search is underway for the second crew member, two officials said.”

* In related news: “A second U.S. military plane involved in the U.S. war with Iran crashed on Friday, a U.S. official with knowledge of the matter told MS NOW. The plane’s pilot was safely rescued by American forces after it went down near the Strait of Hormuz. The crash was first reported by The New York Times. It was not clear if the plane, an A-10 Warthog, was shot down or crashed due to mechanical failure, the U.S. official said.”

* Crisis conditions in Lebanon: “The U.S. Embassy in Lebanon issued an alert Friday to U.S. citizens to ‘Leave Lebanon NOW,’ urging them to depart ‘while commercial flight options remain available.’ The alert said if people choose not to leave, they should ‘prepare contingency plans’ in case ‘the situation deteriorate further.’”

* A probe worth watching: “An expansive inquiry by the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general into the handling of contracts under the agency’s former secretary, Kristi Noem, is scrutinizing her senior adviser Corey Lewandowski’s interactions with companies seeking federal business, according to multiple people familiar with the investigation.”

* The obvious call: “A federal judge on Friday reaffirmed his decision to block subpoenas from the Justice Department to the Federal Reserve on the grounds that the probe appears to be driven by a political vendetta, setting the stage for an appeal by the Trump administration.”

* Hegseth ice”https://apnews.com/article/pentagon-policy-guns-military-bases-hegseth-09cdd079f8ac28aa72b2349859e2f54e”>full of ideas: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday that he will allow service members to carry personal weapons onto military installations, citing the Second Amendment and recent shootings at bases across the country.”

* In light of the occasional rumors about his possible retirement, this seems notable: “Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito became ill during an event in Philadelphia on the evening of March 20, a spokesperson for the high court said Friday. … Alito, 76, underwent an examination and received fluids for dehydration, the spokesperson said, adding he returned home that night, which was previously planned.”

Have a safe weekend.

Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”