Trump Says Novartis Building 11 US Plants After Tariff Push; CEO Affirms Plans
President Trump said Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan told him the drugmaker is building 11 U.S. plants due to tariff policies. Novartis confirmed progress on facilities in North Carolina, California, and Florida. Narasimhan also said he has no plans to step down as CEO.
U.S. President Donald Trump said he met Vas Narasimhan, the chief executive officer of Swiss drugmaker Novartis, at the White House on Wednesday. Trump, addressing workers at a steel plant in Rome, Georgia on Thursday, said Narasimhan told him during the meeting that his company was building 11 U.S. plants as a result of the president's tariff policies.
A spokesperson for Novartis said in an emailed statement: "We appreciate the opportunity to update the U.S. government on our progress, including recent groundbreakings for manufacturing and research facilities in North Carolina and California and plans to expand our radioligand therapy manufacturing network with a new site in Florida." The statement did not add any details on the number of facilities planned in the U.S. Last year, the Swiss drugmaker said it planned to spend $23 billion to build and expand 10 facilities in the U.S. after the Trump administration threatened to impose drug import duties.
Separately, Narasimhan said on Tuesday he will lead the Swiss drugmaker through its next phase of growth as it prepares for a series of key drug trial data announcements later this year. "No change of plans for me," he told journalists on a call after the company posted a second-quarter profit that beat analysts' expectations. "I'm looking forward to the (trial) readouts in the second half, the launches for next year, continuing our AI transformation, a lot to do," he said.
Narasimhan, who has held the top post since 2018, is leading the drugmaker through its most severe period of patent expiries including for its blockbuster heart failure drug Entresto.