WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced he will sign an executive order Monday aimed at reducing the cost of certain prescription drugs, reviving a proposal from his first term that previously failed to take effect.
The proposed order would instruct the Department of Health and Human Services to link the price Medicare pays for medications administered in doctors’ offices to the lowest price paid by other countries — a move Trump says will help lower costs for Americans.
“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,” Trump wrote Sunday on his social media platform. He said the order would be signed Monday morning at the White House.
“Our Country will finally be treated fairly, and our citizens’ Healthcare Costs will be reduced by numbers never even thought of before,” he added.
Trump’s proposal would primarily affect a limited category of prescription drugs—specifically, those covered by Medicare and administered in clinical settings, such as injectable treatments for cancer and other serious conditions. While the plan could lead to notable savings for the federal government, experts say the “TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS” in savings Trump touted in his social media post is likely an overstatement.
Medicare, which covers around 70 million older Americans, has long been at the center of debates over rising drug costs in the U.S.—an issue that has sparked bipartisan concern but has yet to be resolved through legislation.
Trump’s planned executive order would attempt to lower prices by adopting a “most favored nation” strategy, tying what Medicare pays for certain physician-administered drugs to the lowest price paid by a group of comparable, economically advanced countries.
The approach is expected to face strong resistance from the pharmaceutical industry, which has consistently opposed similar measures. Trump previously pursued this policy during his first term, signing a comparable executive order late in his presidency. However, that rule was ultimately blocked by a federal court after the Biden administration declined to implement it.
The pharmaceutical industry has pushed back hard against Trump’s earlier efforts, arguing that the 2020 proposal would effectively allow foreign governments to dictate drug prices in the U.S. Industry leaders claim that forcing lower prices would cut into profits and stifle innovation, potentially slowing the development of new treatments.
The new executive order would primarily apply to medications covered under Medicare Part B, which includes drugs administered in doctors’ offices—like cancer infusions and other injectables. These are typically more expensive and are partially paid for out-of-pocket by beneficiaries. For those enrolled in traditional Medicare, there is no annual cap on those expenses.
More widely used prescription drugs that patients fill at a pharmacy—generally covered under Medicare Part D—are unlikely to be affected by the order.
A report released during Trump’s first term found that the U.S. paid roughly twice as much as other wealthy countries for many of the same Part B drugs. In 2021, Medicare Part B drug spending alone exceeded $33 billion.
Trump’s post formally previewing the action came after he teased a “very big announcement” last week. He gave no details, except to note that it wasn’t related to trade or the tariffs he has announced imposing on much of the world.
“We’re going to have a very, very big announcement to make — like as big as it gets,” Trump said last week.
He came into his first term accusing pharmaceutical companies of “getting away with murder” and complaining that other countries whose governments set drug prices were taking advantage of Americans.
On Sunday, Trump took aim at the industry again, writing that 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.”
Referring to drug companies’ powerful lobbying efforts, he said that campaign contributions “can do wonders, but not with me, and not with the Republican Party.”
“We are going to do the right thing,” he wrote.
