President Trump recently imposed a 50% tariff on foreign steel and aluminum, a 25% tariff on vehicles and automotive parts, an effective tariff of above 30% on most Chinese imports, and a 10% tariff on almost all other goods—all in a bid to revive American manufacturing and cripple America’s chief adversary.

Wall Street has wailed over the tariffs. But Michiganders on both sides of the aisle have largely welcomed them. Republican Congressman and gubernatorial candidate John James have stridently defended the president’s strategy. Numerous Democrats in our congressional delegation have expressed cautious support for the measures.

Properly implemented, these tariffs can help bring back the manufacturing jobs that once made our state the engine of America’s economy.

But it’s important that we reserve the toughest tariffs for our enemies—not our allies. That’s especially true when it comes to a new set of tariffs that the administration plans to impose “very soon” on pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical ingredients.

The purpose of putting tariffs on medicines is to strengthen U.S. national security and ensure we’re not overly reliant on potentially hostile countries for critical treatments. Currently, the overwhelming majority of generic antibiotics are either manufactured in China or made with Chinese ingredients.

When Americans get an infection, they shouldn’t have to depend on China for their antibiotics. Targeted tariffs on Chinese pharmaceuticals would force companies to relocate factories out of China, either here to America, or at least to our allies.

But there’s no reason to put tariffs on all imported medicines. That’d needlessly harm people and businesses across Michigan—and across the nation.

The reason is that people don’t choose their diseases—and don’t have the luxury of shopping around for treatments. If tariffs make German or Japanese cars more expensive, consumers can choose ones made in Detroit or Sterling Heights instead. But if a patient’s doctor prescribes a cancer treatment made in Germany or Japan, there might not be any other equally good options.

Many serious or life-threatening conditions can only be treated with medicines made in allied countries. In other cases, a person’s medical history or genetics may make a European or Japanese-made drug more effective than an American one. If tariffs are applied to all medicines, rather than just Chinese drugs, patients could face steep price hikes at the pharmacy.

Even drugs manufactured in the United States wouldn’t be spared. While roughly half of all brand-name drugs used by Americans are already made here, about a third of their ingredients come from Europe.

Tariffs would mean higher operating costs for Michigan manufacturers. In Rochester, companies manufacture lifesaving drugs from penicillin to chemotherapy treatments. Tariffs could disrupt operations at these facilities, jeopardizing manufacturing jobs and stunting our life sciences sector.

In theory, tariffs might compel some drugmakers to relocate more of their production to the United States. But that won’t happen nearly quickly enough to avoid immense pain. It can take a decade to build just one new pharmaceutical plant.

It’s not just patients who’ll suffer—taxpayers will too. Medicare and Medicaid could see prices skyrocket at a time when the Trump administration is working to rein in government spending. Employer sponsored insurance plans would also face higher drug costs—which would ultimately lead to higher premiums for businesses and workers.

Put simply, tariffs on medicines need to be targeted. Cutting China out of our supply chains makes sense for our economic and national security.

But taxing drugs from our allies in Europe and Japan wouldn’t make us safer or more prosperous. It won’t revive American industry or make Michigan manufacturing great again. It’d simply make trips to the pharmacy more expensive.

Blake Edmonds is a former Vice Chair of the Michigan Republican Party.