Feb 26 (Reuters) - Eli Lilly ( LLY ) plans to spend at

least $27 billion to build four new manufacturing plants in the

U.S., the drugmaker said at a Washington press conference on

Wednesday, as it grapples with the threat of drug import duties

from the Trump administration.

The new plants will be built over the next five years, and

are expected to create more than 3,000 jobs for skilled workers

like engineers and scientists as well as 10,000 construction

jobs, the company said.

Lilly said it will announce the locations of the sites later

this year.

The announcement comes less than a week after U.S. President

Donald Trump met with chief executives from major drugmakers,

including Lilly CEO David Ricks, to discuss industry concerns

such as tariffs on drug imports.

Trump, who campaigned on a promise to boost domestic

manufacturing, has been piling pressure on drugmakers since

taking office to move medicine production to the U.S. He

suggested last week that he could impose a 25% duty on

pharmaceutical and other imports.

Other sectors are also making manufacturing announcements.

Earlier this week, Apple said it would spend $500 billion in the

U.S. over the next four years, but analysts said some of that

included current commitments.

The U.S. and its major trading partners have agreed to

reciprocal tariff elimination for pharmaceutical products and

chemicals used in drug production for the past 30 years,

according to the U.S. Trade Representative's office.

Despite telling Republicans in a White House meeting earlier

this month that he was considering such an exemption, Reuters

reported, Trump has yet to rule them out.

Ricks said in a statement that Lilly's new investment plans

would help reinvigorate U.S. manufacturing, and that tax-cutting

legislation introduced in Trump's first term has been

foundational to the drugmaker's domestic manufacturing

investments.

Lilly, which has become the world's most valuable healthcare

company worth more than $855 billion, said it has already

committed $23 billion to boosting its U.S. manufacturing

footprint since 2020. Its Wednesday announcement brings that

total to more than $50 billion.

Three of Lilly's new plants will be used to manufacture

pharmaceutical raw ingredients, while the fourth will make

injectable medicines, the drugmaker said.