Trump Signs Executive Order, Sets 30-Day Deadline for Drug Price Cuts/ Newslooks/ WASHINGTON/ J. Mansour/ Morning Edition/ President Donald Trump Signed a sweeping executive order giving drugmakers 30 days to lower prescription costs. If no agreement is reached, U.S. prices will be tied to the lowest global rates under a “most favored nation” policy. The pharmaceutical industry warns of reduced innovation and greater reliance on foreign supply chains.
Trump Orders Drugmakers to Cut Prices in 30 Days – Quick Looks
- Trump to sign executive order Monday mandating drug price negotiations.
- Health Secretary RFK Jr. to lead 30-day talks with manufacturers.
- If no deal, U.S. drug costs will match lowest global rates.
- “Most favored nation” rule revives Trump-era push to cap prices.
- PhRMA blasts plan as harmful to R&D and innovation.
- DOJ and FTC instructed to explore pricing enforcement options.
- Medicare and Medicaid drug pricing most affected by order.
- Trump calls industry lobbyists ineffective: “Not with me.”
Trump Signs Executive Order, Sets 30-Day Deadline for Drug Price Cuts
Deep Look
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday signed a sweeping executive order setting a 30-day deadline for drugmakers to lower the cost of prescription drugs in the U.S. or face new limits over what the government will pay.
Trump is signing a new executive order that revives his “most favored nation” approach to prescription drug pricing. Under the order, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will lead negotiations with drugmakers over the next month. If no deal is reached, a new rule will take effect, forcing the U.S. to adopt foreign pricing benchmarks—potentially slashing what Medicare pays for drugs administered in doctors’ offices.
“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 posted on Truth Social Sunday.
The order calls on the health department, led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to broker new price tags for drugs. If a deal is not reached, a new rule will kick in that will tie the price of what the U.S. pays for medications to lower prices paid by other countries.
“We’re going to equalize,” Trump said during a Monday morning press conference. “We’re all going to pay the same. We’re going to pay what Europe pays.”
The federal government, largely through Medicare and Medicaid, spends hundreds of billions of dollars annually on prescription drugs. Trump insists the move will save taxpayers “TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS”—though independent estimates say it’s likely to be far less.
Industry Backlash
The pharmaceutical lobby quickly pushed back. Stephen J. Ubl, CEO of the industry group PhRMA, said the policy would jeopardize U.S.-based innovation and increase dependency on China.
“Importing foreign prices will cut billions of dollars from Medicare with no guarantee that it helps patients or improves access to medicines,” Ubl said. “It jeopardizes the hundreds of billions our member companies are planning to invest in America.”
Critics argue that tying U.S. prices to foreign rates would shift pricing control to governments abroad. This was the same concern that derailed Trump’s similar 2020 executive order, which was blocked in federal court under the Biden administration before it could take effect.
Medicare, Medicaid Most Affected
While the executive order focuses on lowering costs for all Americans, the federal government has limited authority over drug pricing outside of Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare covers nearly 70 million older Americans, while Medicaid serves over 80 million low-income or disabled individuals.
Private insurers are largely insulated from the directive, although market pressure could influence broader pricing trends if Medicare adopts lower international benchmarks.
The order also tasks the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission with exploring additional enforcement actions around price manipulation or anticompetitive practices in the pharmaceutical industry.
Political and Economic Context
Trump’s aggressive stance on drug pricing has been a central feature of his administration’s health policy agenda since 2016, when he accused pharmaceutical companies of “getting away with murder.”
On Sunday, he renewed those attacks, writing: “Pharmaceutical/Drug Companies would say, for years, that it was Research and Development Costs, and that all of these costs were, and would be, for no reason whatsoever, borne by the ‘suckers’ of America, ALONE.”
He also downplayed the industry’s political influence. “Campaign contributions can do wonders, but not with me, and not with the Republican Party,” he wrote. “We are going to do the right thing.”
The proposal comes as Congress has repeatedly failed to pass meaningful prescription drug reform, despite bipartisan outrage over U.S. drug costs—among the highest in the world.
Whether the 30-day negotiation window results in voluntary concessions or triggers the pricing rule remains to be seen, but Trump’s move reasserts his role as a populist disruptor of entrenched industry norms—setting up a high-stakes showdown between Washington and Big Pharma.
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