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Donald Trump plans to use his executive powers to force pharmaceutical companies to drastically reduce the cost of drugs in the US, despite fierce opposition from the industry and some senior Republicans.
In a social media post on Sunday evening, Trump said he would sign an order on Monday to reduce prices “almost immediately by 30 per cent to 80 per cent”.
He added that the US would introduce a “most favoured nation” policy, “whereby the United States will pay the same price as the nation that pays the lowest price anywhere in the World”.
A similar move was attempted by Trump during his first term in office, but failed to progress amid strong resistance from the pharmaceutical industry.
The US president suggested that he would now see off any opposition from the sector, despite large pharmaceutical groups and trade bodies having made donations to his inauguration.
“Campaign Contributions can do wonders, but not with me, and not with the Republican Party,” Trump added on Truth Social. “We are going to do the right thing, something that the Democrats have fought for many years.”
Industry lobby group PhRMA, which has previously campaigned against such a policy, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The group had argued that restricting drug prices would harm pharmaceutical research in the US.
Trump addressed the claim in his post, writing that drugs 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 claimed that as a result of the expected order, “our country will finally be treated fairly”.
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