Roche says it will invest $50 billion in the U.S. as tariff fears hit pharma

With threats of tariffs hanging over the pharmaceutical industry, Switzerland’s Roche announced on Tuesday that it will invest $50 billion in the United States over the next five years, expanding its existing facilities and building new manufacturing plants and research centers.

Roche (RHHBY) is one of the world’s largest pharma companies and currently has some 25,000 employees in the U.S., spread across 13 manufacturing and 15 research sites spread in eight states. The company said in its announcement that the new investments are expected to create more than 12,000 new jobs, although only 1,000 of those will be at Roche directly.

Roche’s investment follows a similar move from Swiss competitor Novartis (NVS), which earlier this month announced plans to invest $23 billion in building and expanding 10 U.S. facilities.

The majority of the world’s drugs are manufactured outside the United States, and President Donald Trump has said several times that he wants to change that balance with tariffs as high as 25%. “We’re going to be announcing very shortly a major tariff on pharmaceuticals” he told a dinner of the National Republican Congressional Committee on April 11, adding that “when they hear that, they will leave China. They will leave other places because they have to sell — most of their product is sold here and they’re going to be opening up their plants all over the place.”

In its announcement Roche said it would expand and upgrade manufacturing and distribution capabilities in Kentucky, Indiana, New Jersey, Oregon and California, build a gene therapy manufacturing facility in Pennsylvania, and build a new manufacturing plant in Indiana. It also plans a manufacturing center for its next generation of weight loss medicines, but has not yet chosen a location.

“Today’s announced investments underscore our long-standing commitment to research, development and manufacturing in the US,” said Roche Group CEO Thomas Schinecker in a press release. “Our investments of USD 50 billion over the next five years will lay the foundation for our next era of innovation and growth, benefiting patients in the US and around the world.”