President Donald Trump on Monday morning signed an executive order to significantly reduce pharmaceutical drug prices for Americans.
The directive, Trump stressed, will bring fairness to Americans and cut out “the middlemen” to bring prices down so citizens will start to pay prices comparable to other developed nations.
“Starting today, the United States will no longer subsidize the drug prices of other countries,” the president said. “We’ve been subsidizing drug prices for the rest of the world, not just the European Union.”
By implementing a policy called “Most Favored Nation,” Trump said the U.S. is “gonna pay the lowest price there is in the world. We’re no longer paying ten times more than another country.”
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was with Trump at a press conference on Monday morning, said that other nations, particularly those in the European Union, must chip in for research and development. Kennedy said raising their prices by just 20% would dramatically reduce costs in the United States.
Trump teased the executive order Sunday night on Truth Social, saying it would reduce prices by up to 80%.
JUST IN: PRESIDENT TRUMP’S “MOST IMPORTANT AND IMPACTFUL” TRUTH EVER ISSUED ⬇️
“I am pleased to announce that Tomorrow morning, in the White House, at 9:00 A.M., I will be signing one of the most consequential Executive Orders in our Country’s history….” pic.twitter.com/YfyKzked0S
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 11, 2025
During Trump’s first term, he introduced a regulation for certain cancer drugs and others to be the same price as they were abroad. The Biden administration, however, abandoned the regulation after a court struck it down on procedural grounds.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt discussed the order on Monday, saying online that other presidents “merely talked about addressing this problem – but President Trump is taking bold action to finally solve it and deliver a good deal for American families and seniors.”
“President Trump is signing a historic Executive Order to significantly reduce drug prices for Americans,” she posted on X. “This EO will help bypass costly middlemen and bring the prices Americans pay for prescription drugs in line with those paid by other nations.”
President Trump is signing a historic Executive Order to significantly reduce drug prices for Americans.
This EO will help bypass costly middlemen and bring the prices Americans pay for prescription drugs in line with those paid by other nations.
Other Presidents merely talked… pic.twitter.com/KTD37JonpH
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) May 12, 2025
White House Health Policy Adviser Calley Means, the brother of surgeon general nominee Casey Means, promoted the order online, posting on X, “The U.S. is less than 5% of the world’s population but produces 75% of worldwide pharma profits. That’s not the free market. It’s rank corporate capture.”
The U.S. is less than 5% of the world’s population but produces 75% of worldwide pharma profits.
That’s not the free market. Its rank corporate capture.
— Calley Means (@calleymeans) May 12, 2025
“‘Price controls’ would assume we have a free market in healthcare. It is not a free market when America, the largest purchaser of drugs in the world, pays 10 more for major drugs from American companies than Germany,” Means commented, responding to criticism of the order. “That’s corruption.”
“Price controls” would assume we have a free market in healthcare.
It is not a free market when America, the largest purchaser of drugs in the world, pays 10 more for major drugs from American companies than Germany.
That’s corruption.
— Calley Means (@calleymeans) May 12, 2025
The order follows another directive signed by Trump on May 5, which seeks to reduce the regulatory burden on the domestic production of critical medicines.
“One key area of concern is the length of time it takes to build pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities in the United States today,” the order reads. “New construction must navigate myriad Federal, State, and local requirements ranging from building standards and zoning restrictions to environmental protocols that together diminish the certainty needed to generate investment for large manufacturing projects.”
The order notes that estimates suggest building new pharmaceutical manufacturing plants “may take as long as 5 to 10 years, which is unacceptable from a national security standpoint.”
Within 180 days, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will take action to “update regulations and guidance that apply to the inspection and approval of new and expanded manufacturing capacity of pharmaceutical products, active pharmaceutical ingredients, key starting materials, and associated raw materials in the United States to eliminate any duplicative or unnecessary requirements and maximize the timeliness and predictability of agency review,” the order notes.
