U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans on Monday to slash prescription drug prices by 59%, though he did not provide specifics on how the reduction would be achieved. The declaration, made on his Truth Social platform, comes ahead of a scheduled health-related event at the White House later today.
“DRUG PRICES TO BE CUT BY 59%,” Mr. Trump wrote in capital letters, prompting an immediate dip in global pharmaceutical shares during early morning trading.
The former president said he would sign an executive order aimed at implementing a “Most Favored Nation” pricing policy — a controversial strategy that would peg U.S. drug prices to the lowest prices paid by other countries. While the U.S. currently pays significantly more for many medications than peer nations, Trump offered no details on how the pricing benchmarks would be enforced or how many drugs would be affected.
“They will rise throughout the World in order to equalize and, for the first time in many years, bring FAIRNESS TO AMERICA!” he said, adding that the U.S. would match the lowest global price under his proposed rule.
Drug industry insiders say they’ve been briefed by the White House on a possible order that could extend beyond the limited Medicare drug negotiations allowed under the Inflation Reduction Act passed during President Joe Biden’s administration. That legislation authorized Medicare to negotiate the cost of 10 drugs, with pricing reforms set to begin in 2026. More drugs are slated to be included in the coming years.
Pharmaceutical lobbyists, however, are warning that such government intervention could hurt patients.
“Government price setting in any form is bad for American patients,” said Alex Schriver, spokesperson for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the industry’s main lobbying group.
This is not the first time Trump has floated the idea of using international pricing to drive down domestic drug costs. During his first term, a similar proposal to tie Medicare prices to international benchmarks was blocked in federal court. That plan, unveiled in 2018, was projected to save U.S. taxpayers more than $85 billion over seven years by trimming costs from the country’s more than $400 billion annual drug bill.
As of Monday morning, Trump had not released the full text of the executive order or clarified whether the proposal would face congressional review or public consultation.
