Trump Announces Deal With Drugmakers To Lower Prescription Prices
President Donald Trump announced Friday that Americans can expect significantly lower prescription drug prices after his administration reached new agreements with nine major pharmaceutical companies, a move the White House says will directly benefit U.S. consumers long burdened by inflated costs.
Trump unveiled the deals during an event at the White House attended by executives from what he described as nine of the world’s largest drug manufacturers. Under the agreements, the companies committed to offering several high-profile medications in the United States at discounted “most favored nation” prices, Mediaite reported.
According to the president, the pricing structure will ensure Americans pay no more than the lowest price charged for the same drugs anywhere else in the world.
“In other words, whatever the drug sells for in the world, whatever the lowest number is, we will match that price,” Trump said Friday.
Trump argued that for decades, Americans have been forced to subsidize cheaper drug prices overseas, sometimes paying as much as ten times more than patients in other countries. He said the new agreements build on similar price reductions his administration has already announced in recent months, including cuts affecting popular weight-loss medications such as Ozempic. The newly discounted drugs, Trump said, include treatments for diabetes, asthma, and blood clot prevention.
While describing negotiations with pharmaceutical executives as contentious, Trump said the companies ultimately conceded that their pricing practices had been unfair to American consumers.
Bloomberg reported that the administration secured the agreements in exchange for a three-year reprieve from potential tariffs on pharmaceutical products. The White House has not yet released specifics on how the pricing changes will be implemented or when consumers will begin seeing lower prices at the pharmacy counter.
Trump emphasized that the United States has long carried the financial burden for global drug pricing and made clear that policy is coming to an end.
“We are not doing it anymore,” Trump said.
He called the agreements the most consequential development in prescription drug policy to date and said the impact would extend across the broader health care system, where medications represent a major share of total spending.
During the event, Trump addressed Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, stressing that the administration intends for savings from lower drug prices to flow directly to patients rather than being absorbed by insurance companies. Trump said the White House will continue advancing policies aimed at lowering out-of-pocket costs, particularly for Americans who purchase their own health insurance.
The president also took aim at Democrats, accusing them of protecting insurance industry interests that profit from the current pricing system. Trump said his administration would not allow insurers to capture the benefits of lower drug costs at the expense of consumers.
The announcement underscores Trump’s renewed focus on prescription drug pricing as a cornerstone of his health care agenda in his second term. His administration has consistently argued that Americans should not pay more for the same medications than patients in other developed nations, pushing to tie U.S. prices to international benchmarks.
The pharmaceutical industry has historically opposed such measures, warning they could reduce investment in research and development. It remains unclear how the new agreements could affect future drug innovation or pricing negotiations.
Administration officials said additional announcements aimed at reducing health care costs may be forthcoming.
Separately, Trump signed five Congressional Review Act resolutions into law on Dec. 11, bringing his total for 2025 to 22 — the most CRA resolutions signed by any president in a single year since the law was enacted in 1996, surpassing the combined total of all previous presidents.
The five resolutions overturned Bureau of Land Management resource management plans covering portions of North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and northern and central Alaska, Ballotpedia reported.
The Congressional Review Act, signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1996, allows Congress to review and reject newly issued federal regulations within 60 working days of their formal submission.