Trump to Sign Executive Order Aimed at Lowering U.S. Drug Prices by Matching Overseas Rates

President Donald Trump is expected to resurrect a controversial proposal that aims to decrease the cost of prescription drugs in the United States by linking government payments for some medications to lower costs in other nations. White House officials said Monday that an executive order will be issued to implement the policy, which is known as the "most favored nation" (MFN) rule.

Trump's continued efforts to address the problem of the United States' rapidly rising medicine prices include this new directive, which may be a setback for the pharmaceutical industry. The MFN program will target medications with the biggest price differences, possibly including well-liked weight-loss and diabetes medicines, officials said.

Despite not disclosing which particular medications will be impacted, officials pointed out that the program will be more comprehensive than a comparable proposal made during Trump's first term. The effort requests that the Department of Commerce and the U.S. Trade Representative address "unreasonable" foreign practices that suppress medicine prices overseas and calls on pharmaceutical corporations to lower drug prices in the United States in retaliation.

Along with negotiating possible price reductions with pharmaceutical companies, the order would mandate that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) set price reduction targets within 30 days. HHS will take regulatory action to impose MFN pricing on companies who do not fulfill these standards. It also requires the FDA to think about increasing the import of less expensive medications from other wealthy countries.

Although the strategy may lower prescription costs for American consumers, the pharmaceutical industry has expressed fears that it may affect earnings, stifle research, and cause disruptions in international markets. Drugmakers may lose billions of dollars in income as a result of such policies, according to industry associations like PhRMA.

Trump made the declaration in the midst of efforts to reshore drug manufacturing in the United States and to prepare for tariffs on foreign medications. The government seems dedicated to putting this new approach into practice in spite of resistance from the pharmaceutical industry. Prescription drug prices in the United States are still two to three times higher than those in other industrialized countries.