ZURICH, March 7 (Reuters) - Roche expects its agreement with the U.S. government will keep its medicines exempt from the current round of import tariffs, but its diagnostics division remains exposed and could face renewed duties after an initial 150-day period, Chairman Severin Schwan said on Saturday.
Roche was one of nine major pharmaceutical companies that agreed a deal with U.S. President Donald Trump in December to cut the prices of their medicines in return for removing the threat of tariffs for three years.
"As far as pharmaceuticals are concerned, we assume our agreement with the government is binding and that we will continue to be exempt from tariffs on the import of medicines," Schwan told Swiss newspaper Neue Zuercher Zeitung.
"But our diagnostics business continues to be significantly affected," he added.
Roche's diagnostics division, which generated sales of nearly 14 billion Swiss francs in 2025, exported a large share of its tests and instruments from Switzerland and other European countries to the United States, Schwan said.
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Roche also produced diagnostics products in the U.S., which faced import tariffs from China, he said.
"But because China has introduced retaliatory tariffs, we end up, as a U.S. net exporter, paying tariffs twice. That's absurd," he said.
Schwan said he expected the U.S. government to impose import tariffs again under a different legal basis after the 150-day limit on tariffs expires.
Roche had no plans to split off its diagnostics division, he said. "That is not a topic at all. We are sticking with it," he told the newspaper.
(Reporting by John RevillEditing by Tomasz Janowski)