In a new executive order, U.S. President Donald Trump has vowed to cut the prices of prescription drugs and pharmaceuticals in the United States by between 30% and 80%.
Posting on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump announced that he would sign the order on Monday morning, promising to provide Americans with relief from high medication costs “almost immediately.”
He cited years of frustration among U.S. consumers, who have long paid significantly more for medications than people in other countries.
“For many years, the world has wondered why prescription drugs and pharmaceuticals in the United States of America were so much higher in price than they were in any other nation,” Trump wrote. “Sometimes they are five to ten times more expensive than the same drug, manufactured in the exact same laboratory or plant, by the same company!”
The new policy is expected to link the cost of drugs sold in the U.S. to the lowest price paid by any other country for the same medication. Trump said the plan would implement a “most-favored-nation” policy.
“Our country will finally be treated fairly, and our citizens’ healthcare costs will be reduced by numbers never even thought of before,” he added.
Trump also accused pharmaceutical companies of exploiting Americans by using research and development costs as a justification for inflated prices. The move is expected to significantly reduce the prices of cancer treatments and other injectable medications in the U.S.
Notably, Trump said the policy would also force prices to rise in other countries to match U.S. pricing, calling it a matter of fairness. “They will rise throughout the world in order to equalize and, for the first time in many years, bring fairness to America!” he said.
Trump had introduced a similar plan during his first term, but it was blocked in court and never took effect. This time, he said, the approach would be different and promised that it would “save trillions of dollars.”-IANS
