J&J’s Earnings Beat as Pharma Girds for Looming US Tariffs (3)

Johnson & Johnson is holding its earnings outlook steady despite President Donald Trump moving decisively toward imposing tariffs on the pharmaceutical industry.

The administration’s investigation into drug imports announced Monday, widely seen as a first step toward imposing levies on the industry, could actually be beneficial, J&J Chief Financial Officer Joe Wolk said in an interview. The investigation is likely to show most medicines shipped to the US are cheap generics, not the innovative therapies sold by J&J, he said.

“In some respects, it could very much be good news,” he said. “The last thing anybody wants is to deny ...