President Trump Announces 30% To 80% Drop In Prescription Drug Prices
on May 11, 2025
Announcement On Drug Price Reduction Follows April 15 Executive Order
Describing it as “one of the most important and impactful” announcements he has ever made on Truth Social, President Donald Trump shared in the evening of Sunday, May 11, that he will be tackling prescription drug costs directly.
At 9 a.m. on Monday, May 12, Trump will be “signing one of the most consequential Executive Orders in our Country’s history,” adding, “Prescription Drug and Pharmaceutical prices will be REDUCED, almost immediately, by 30% to 80%.”
To accomplish this drop in costs, he said the cost of prescription drugs “will rise throughout the World in order to equalize” the cost. This, he said, will be happening “for the first time in many years” as an effort to “bring FAIRNESS TO AMERICA!”
He added, “I will be instituting a MOST FAVORED NATION’S POLICY whereby the United States will pay the same price as the Nation that pays the lowest price anywhere in the World.”
“We Are Going To Do The Right Thing”
Giving some background on why he is taking this action to lower the costs of prescription drugs, Trump shared in his Truth Social post:
“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, SOMETIMES BEING FIVE TO TEN TIMES MORE EXPENSIVE THAN THE SAME DRUG, MANUFACTURED IN THE EXACT SAME LABORATORY OR PLANT, BY THE SAME COMPANY???”
Noting there has been “no correct or rightful answer” regarding the cause for the cost of these drugs, Trump stated, “The Pharmaceutical/Drug 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.”
Taking a moment to allude to the influence of lobbyists in the pharmaceutical policy realm, he said, “Campaign Contributions can do wonders, but not with me, and not with the Republican Party.”
Of the Republicans and his administration, Trump declared, “We are going to do the right thing, something that the Democrats have fought for many years.
Forthcoming Directives On Prescription Drug Costs
While the language of the executive order has not formally been shared, this announcement on Truth Social follows an executive order the 47th president signed on April 15 which sought to lay the foundation for a concrete action.
The April 15 executive order took the Biden administration to task for the “misnamed Inflation Reduction Act” and the “undoing” of the first Trump administration’s cost-cutting initiatives for American patients.
Seeking to restore these measures, “while making America healthy again,” Trump made a few related directives to his cabinet members:
- Within 60 days of of the April 15 order, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “shall propose and seek comment on guidance for the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program for initial price applicability year 2028 and manufacturer effectuation of maximum fair price under such program in 2026, 2027, and 2028.”
- Within 90 days from April 15, RFK Jr. “shall take action to ensure future grants available … are conditioned upon health centers establishing practices to make insulin and injectable epinephrine available at or below the discounted price paid by the health center grantee or sub-grantee … to individuals with low incomes who have a high cost-sharing requirement for either insulin or injectable epinephrine, have a high unmet deductible, or have no healthcare insurance.”
- Within 180 days from April 15, Vince Haley, assistant to the president for Domestic Policy; Kevin Hassett, assistant to the president for Economic Policy, “shall provide recommendations to the President on how best to stabilize and reduce Medicare Part D premiums.”
- Within one year from April 15, RFK Jr. “shall take appropriate steps to develop and implement a rulemaking plan and select for testing … a payment model to improve the ability of the Medicare program to obtain better value for high-cost prescription drugs and biological products covered by Medicare.”
Read the full April 15 executive order here: www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/lowering-drug-prices-by-once-again-putting-americans-first/.
Concluding his May 11 Truth Social post, he said, “Our Country will finally be treated fairly, and our citizens Healthcare Costs will be reduced by numbers never even thought of before. Additionally, on top of everything else, the United States will save TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS.”
