Donald Trump has threatened to strike another blow to the UK economy by imposing tariffs on pharmaceuticals, one of Britain’s largest export industries. The US president said charges could come into force in the “not too distant future”.

Pharmaceuticals are Britain’s second-largest export to the US after cars, which have already been hit by 25% tariffs along with steel and aluminium products. Any new fees would probably be global, applying to imports from any part of the world including the UK.

Mr Trump said: “Pharmaceuticals, we’re going to do. We don’t make our own drugs, our own pharmaceuticals. We don’t make our own drugs any more. The drug companies are in Ireland, and they’re in lots of other places, China. And all I have to do is impose a tariff. The more, the faster they move in. The higher the tariff.”

He added: “And yeah, we’re going to be doing that. That’s going to be like we have on cars. We have, as you know, a 25% tariff on cars. We have a 25% tariff on steel and aluminium, and that’s what that category fits right now.”

British pharmaceutical industry leaders have declined to comment on the prospect of tariffs, saying they will wait to see what the US does.

However, last week the chairman of British drugmaker AstraZeneca, Michel Demaré, said: “Medicines should be exempted from any kind of tariffs because at the end this is just harming patients, health systems and restricting health equity.”

Medicinal and pharmaceutical products worth £8.8billion were from the UK to the US in 2023, according to official figures.

The UK Government last week announced emergency measures to help the car industry cope with the impact of tariffs, including loosening requirements to switch to the sale of zero-emission vehicles.

Ireland, named by Mr Trump as one of his targets for tariffs, has urged the US president to think again. Ireland’s deputy prime minister Simon Harris said: “What I would say to our counterparts in the United States is the European Union is engaging in good faith. I’m sure the United States is as well.

“And in any good faith negotiation, you should never take any action to escalate the situation.”