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3471President Donald Trump got people talking during a “Make America Healthy Again” event when he warned that pharmaceutical companies resisting his drug pricing reforms could face unrelated trade bans.
“If they fight, we’ll just say, ‘That’s OK, we’re not going to let you sell any more cars into the United States or we’re not going to let you sell any more wine or liquor or alcohol,'” he said.
“Something that’s actually way more important to them than the drugs.”
At the core of his remarks was a long-standing complaint: that Americans pay drastically more for prescription drugs than citizens in other countries. Trump said this unfair system ends now.
“We were subsidizing the whole world,” he said. “And I said, ‘We’re not going to do that anymore.'”
Trump’s New Drug Pricing Rule
Trump announced that he has implemented a “Most Favored Nation” rule, which means the United States will only pay the lowest price that any other country in the world pays for prescription drugs.
He predicted this move could result in drug cost reductions of up to 89%.
“We’re going to take the lowest country anywhere in the world, and that’s what we’re going to be paying,” he said. “And we’ll be saving from 50 to 89%.”
He also claimed that for years, other countries have bullied pharmaceutical companies into keeping prices low for themselves while expecting the U.S. to pick up the tab.
“The European Union was right at the top of the list,” he said.
“They’d say, ‘We’re going to pay $20 for this and we’re not going to pay anymore,’ and America would pay $240 for the same thing.”
Cars, Wine, and… Pharmaceuticals?
Trump’s off-topic threat to ban imports like wine and vehicles quickly went viral. Critics online pounced on the confusion, since pharmaceutical companies don’t sell those products.
“Which drug company sells cars & wine?” one person on X asked.
Others chimed in with jokes like, “So he’s going to punish pharmaceutical companies by checks notes not letting them sell cars??” and, “Pfizer won’t be able to sell Mustangs anymore?!”
Some accused Trump of being confused or displaying cognitive decline, while others questioned the legality and feasibility of such trade threats.
Taking on Big Pharma
Still, Trump insisted his policy will work, and that the U.S. was simply evening the playing field after years of being taken advantage of.
“We’re basically equalizing,” he said.
“They should do it… It’s going to be the same amount of money, but it’s going to be redistributed.”
He acknowledged that the pharmaceutical industry is extremely powerful and spends billions lobbying Congress.
Still, he claimed he was the first president in decades to bring drug prices down, even if only slightly.
“At the end of my first term I was so proud because it’s the first time in 28 years that any president reduced drug prices,” Trump said.
“It was down one quarter of 1%, and I was so proud.”
Final Warning
He closed by tasking allies, including Dr. Mehmet Oz, with making sure the new pricing policy is enforced quickly.
“If you don’t do it, I am firing every single one of you,” Trump told the group.
Despite the backlash, Trump portrayed the initiative as one of the most important moves of his presidency.
Whether it results in real savings or legal battles remains to be seen.
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