Cambridge, UK - British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca said Tuesday it would invest $50 billion in the US amid a looming deadline of ramped-up tariffs from Washington.

A large chunk of the funds will go toward building a multi-billion-dollar manufacturing center in Virginia, the company said in a statement, adding that it expects 50% of its revenue to come from the US by 2030.

"Today’s announcement underpins our belief in America’s innovation in biopharmaceuticals," the statement quoted CEO Pascal Soriot as saying.

President Donald Trump has opened the door to potential tariffs targeting pharmaceuticals, which have so far benefited from exemptions to his sweeping levies on imports from trading partners.

Tattoos Pregnant woman's tattooed baby bump stuns with special meaning

Tattoos Woman gets "hair tattoo" to cover up hair loss, and the results are impressive!

He ordered an investigation launched into pharmaceutical imports, suggesting that levies could reach up to 200%.

The US is a key market for the pharmaceutical industry, and AstraZeneca had already announced in April that it had begun transferring part of its European production to the US.

"For decades Americans have been reliant on foreign supply of key pharmaceutical products," US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a statement, adding that the new tariffs are focused on "ending this structural weakness."

The announcement included a new factory in Virginia, which will be the company's "largest single manufacturing investment."

Other major pharmaceutical companies, which had been exempt from tariffs for 30 years, have, in recent months, begun shifting investment and production to the US.