President Donald Trump said he plans to sign an executive order to cut prescription drug prices by mandating that the US pay the same price for drugs as whichever country pays the lowest price in the world.
He said in a social media post that he would sign the order at 9 a.m. Monday in Washington.
Trump predicted pharmaceutical prices could drop 30% to 80% in the US, though also said prices would likely “rise throughout the World in order to equalize and, for the first time in many years, bring FAIRNESS TO AMERICA!”
“I will be instituting a MOST FAVORED NATION’S POLICY whereby the United States will pay the same price as the Nation that pays the lowest price anywhere in the World,” Trump said in the post. “Our Country will finally be treated fairly, and our citizens Healthcare Costs will be reduced by numbers never even thought of before.”
Americans pay more for medicines than any other country in the world, fueling innovation and driving the growth of the pharmaceutical industry. Drugmakers have said revamping the system will slash revenue and stifle the development of breakthrough therapies that have the potential to lengthen and improve lives.
The US government now negotiates the price of some of the highest cost medicines used in Medicare under the Inflation Reduction Act, which passed in 2022 under former President Joe Biden, with more slated to be added every year. The first two rounds of drug price negotiations haven’t included physician-administered drugs, but the next round might.
Trump’s Truth Social post — preceded by an earlier one that promised “one of the most important and impactful” posts he has ever issued — didn’t detail how the order would work.
He also didn’t specify potential limits on the policy, such as whether it would apply only to government programs such as Medicare or Medicaid, if it would be limited to certain drugs or categories of drugs or if the White House sees a way to apply this more broadly.
In his first term, Trump proposed a Medicare pilot program for drugs with no low-cost generic competition that are given in doctor’s offices, saying he wanted to bring prices in line with countries like France and Japan where they cost dramatically less.
That plan, which would have phased in over three years, aimed to ensure Medicare paid the lowest price offered to a group of 22 nations.
The effort was struck down in federal court after drug companies challenged it, claiming the administration hadn’t properly carried out the rulemaking process. The Biden administration didn’t appeal that finding, and instead pursued legislation that led to the Inflation Reduction Act.
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