The “truly earth-shattering” announcement that President Donald Trump teased last week has arrived—and it’s a policy from his first term.
Trump announced in a Truth Social post Sunday that he is reviving his “most favored nation” policy for slashing drug prices, where he wants Medicaid to pay “the same price as the nation that pays the lowest price anywhere in the world.”
An executive order directing the implementation of the policy will be signed Monday morning at the White House, the president said, touting that “Prescription Drug and Pharmaceutical prices will be REDUCED, almost immediately, by 30% to 80%.”
“For many years the World has wondered why Prescription Drugs and Pharmaceuticals in the United States States of America were SO MUCH HIGHER IN PRICE THAN THEY WERE IN ANY OTHER NATION,” he wrote on Truth Social. “Our Country will finally be treated fairly, and our citizens Healthcare Costs will be reduced by numbers never even thought of before.”
Before making the announcement, Trump said his next Truth Social post would be “one of the most important and impactful” he had ever issued. He earlier teased a “big” announcement that he claimed was “a positive development” for the country.
Trump’s first attempt to enact the policy in 2020 was blocked by a federal judge who said the government failed to follow the proper implementation processes. It was later rescinded by former President Joe Biden.
“We are going to do the right thing, something that the Democrats have fought for many years,” Trump said Sunday. “Campaign Contributions can do wonders, but not with me, and not with the Republican Party.”
The move is likely to draw pushback, especially from the pharmaceutical industry.
The Wall Street Journal‘s editorial board argued last week that the policy, which it called “Trump’s Worst Idea Since Tariffs,” won’t bring the administration closer to achieving its goal of $880 billion in Medicaid savings because the government spends “10 times more on hospital payments” than on drugs.
“Even if Republicans required drug makers to give away medicines to Medicaid, savings wouldn’t come close to $880 billion,” the board wrote. “Trying to wring more money out of drug makers might cause some companies to stop participating in Medicaid… Something would have to give, and it would be investment in new potential cures.”
Last week, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley and Democratic Sen. Peter Welch introduced the Fair Prescription Drug Prices for Americans Act, which piggybacked off Trump’s “most favored nation” idea.
“In his first term, President Trump pursued a most-favored nation policy to level the playing field for American patients,” Welch said. “I’m glad to partner with Senator Hawley on this bipartisan bill that offers the administration a template to work with Congress to make that goal a reality.”
