Geneva (AP) – The Swiss Pharmaceuticals Roche power announced on Monday that it planned to invest $ 50 billion in the United States over the next five years, creating 12,000 jobs.
The company based in Basel, whose product range includes cancer drugs and the treatment of sclerosis in ocher plates, said that the investment would go to high -tech research and development sites and new manufacturing facilities in places such as California, Indiana, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.
The announcement comes when US President Donald Trump urged foreign companies to invest more in the United States and Announced scanning prices Earlier this month on imports as part of the hope of reducing a large American trade deficit in terms of goods.
Before the Trump administration remote on its strictest price plansSwitzerland imported products had to cope with prices of 31% – more than the 20% prices on the goods of the European Union. Switzerland is not a member of the block of 27 countries but is practically surrounded by four EU countries.
Trump’s radical “liberation day” prices on April 2 sparked unrest in the world’s stock markets. A week later, Trump spoke by phone with the Swiss president Karin Keller in a conversation that her office said focused on prices. She highlighted the “important role of Swiss companies and investments in the United States”.
A few hours later, the American president announced that the U -turn had interrupted the new steep prices on around 60 countries for 90 days, making speculation – which was not confirmed – in some Swiss media that her cat with Trump could have played a role in the change of course.
Roche, in its press release, said that once the new expanded manufacturing is put online, the company “will export more drugs from the United States, although it does not mention the prices.
“Today’s announced investments highlight our long-standing commitment to research, development and manufacturing in the United States,” said Roche Thomas Schinecker CEO in a statement.
The company – like the competitor of the Crossed City Novartis – has deep links with the American market and has said that it currently employs 25,000 people and operates 15 R&D centers and 13 manufacturing sites in the United States.
The planned investment will add 1,000 jobs at Roche in the United States and “more than 11,000 to support new American manufacturing capacities,” he said, which will increase his footprint in the United States to 24 sites in eight states.
Roche collected more than 60 billion Swiss francs (around $ 74 billion) in world sales last year, and nearly 25 billion francs in its key pharmaceutical division came to the United States. Roche’s share price dropped by around 18% in the last month, most of the drop after the announcement of the American rate on April 2.
