Washington is on the verge of making a costly mistake. The Trump administration is planning to extend tariffs to medicines and their ingredients for the first time in decades.

If that happens, it won't be European bureaucrats who feel the impact. It will be seniors in La Crosse, families in Viroqua, and working people in Prairie du Chien who are left to bear the cost.

Here in western Wisconsin, communities are built on hard work, self-reliance, and looking out for one another. This region has endured farm crises, factory closures, and plenty of blizzards. Through it all, access to affordable health care has remained essential.

That is what makes the idea of tariffs on medicines so concerning.

Tariffs are taxes on imported goods. In theory, they're meant to encourage domestic production by making foreign products more expensive. The Trump administration sees that as a valuable way to reduce America's reliance on rivals like China for important drugs and bolster our national security.

But there are multiple problems with applying that logic to medicines from Europe. Importing lifesaving drugs from Europe is not a national security threat. And when it comes to medicines, patients cannot simply shop around for other options or wait for new American-made alternatives to come online. For many patients, there is one drug that works best, and it may come from overseas or rely on ingredients that do.

In 2023, the United States imported $128 billion worth of pharmaceutical products from Europe, including $41 billion from Ireland alone. These imports include cancer treatments used in Wisconsin hospitals and heart medications relied upon by seniors.

Even medicines labeled "Made in America" frequently depend on European active pharmaceutical ingredients, or APIs -- the essential chemical elements that make a drug effective. Roughly one-third of these ingredients in U.S.-consumed medicines are sourced from Europe.

The medical supply chain is global and deeply interconnected. If the federal government disrupts that system with tariffs, the effects will fall on Wisconsin families, from retirees who already struggle to afford their prescriptions to parents whose children may rely on specialty drugs made in France or Denmark. 

In La Crosse County alone, there are more than 23,000 Medicare-eligible individuals. Across Wisconsin's Third Congressional District, nearly one in five residents are over the age of 65. 

These people built this region. They ran small businesses, farmed generational land, and powered local paper mills. Today, many of them manage chronic health conditions while living on fixed incomes.

A tariff on medicines would place a heavy burden on these folks. It would function as a hidden tax, one that appears not on a government form, but at the pharmacy counter. The result would be higher out-of-pocket costs for patients, along with increased Medicare and Medicaid spending. That means more pressure on taxpayers and fewer resources available for meaningful healthcare reform.

This is not a partisan issue. It's a matter of common sense. For decades, Republican and Democratic administrations alike have kept medicines out of trade disputes.

Patients don't choose their illnesses. They don't choose the treatments that work. Elected officials shouldn't be the ones making those decisions for them.

The Trump administration has demonstrated strength in confronting unfair trade practices. But there is a difference between standing up to foreign governments and imposing new burdens on American patients. And unlike with China, there's no national security threat in importing drugs from Europe.

To keep healthcare affordable and protect seniors, policymakers must reject tariffs on drugs and the ingredients used to make them. We need to protect the ability to get the medicines our doctors prescribe, without political interference or sticker shock at the pharmacy.

Karen Roesler is a registered nurse in western Wisconsin.