Rubbing salt in the wounds of tariff-hit nations, Donald Trump on Tuesday said that they were desperate to do anything while trying to negotiate with him.

Speaking at the National Republican Congressional Committee, Trump painted a picture of foreign leaders scrambling to renegotiate under pressure.

“I’m telling you — these countries are calling us up, kissing my a**. They are dying to make a deal — ‘please sir make a deal, I’ll do anything, I’ll do anything sir,’” Trump said.

Trump also targeted his own party’s sceptics, precisely those Republican lawmakers who have challenged his unilateral approach to trade negotiations.

Targeting the naysayers, he said, “I’ll see some rebel Republicans that want to grandstand say ‘I think that Congress should take over negotiations’.”

He went on to deride congressional negotiation strategies as national liabilities, accusing lawmakers of undermining the very tariffs that, in his view, put America first.

“Congress takes over negotiating to sell America fast because you’re going to go busted,” Trump said. “A couple of your congressmen said, ‘I think we should get involved in the negotiation of the tariffs’,” he scoffed.

The most biting sarcasm was reserved for China.

“Oh, that’s what I need — I need some guy telling me how to negotiate. I tell you, the happiest people in the world would be Chinese. They wouldn’t be paying 104 per cent. I tell, they’d be paying no per cent [instead] we’d be paying them 104 per cent,” he said, mocking both the idea of compromise and the Democrats’ criticisms of his trade war tactics.

Pharma downturn

Later in his speech, Trump revealed that he plans to impose “major” tariffs on imported pharmaceutical products.

“Tariffs on pharma will be there because we don’t make our own pharma drugs; they are made in another country. The same packet in the US is priced at USD 10 or more,” Trump said. “We are going to tariff pharma in such a way that companies will come rushing to us very soon. The advantage we have is, we are a very big market.”

In a continuation of that promise, Trump added, “Very shortly, we will announce a major tariff on pharma, and when these companies hear that, they will leave China and other countries because most of their products are sold here. And, they will be opening their plants here.”

Doubling down later in the same speech, Trump reiterated: “We’re going to be doing something very big on drug imports — a major tariff is coming.”

His rationale was to reduce American dependence on foreign drug supplies and bring manufacturing back to US soil.

Yet the ripple effects were immediate.

At 9:20am IST on Wednesday, the Nifty Pharma index tumbled 2% to 19,964.10. Every constituent on the index was in the red.

Lupin, Gland Pharma, and Zydus Lifesciences led the downturn, each falling as much as five percent.