Donald Trump has announced that he’s about to sign what he calls one of the most important executive orders in U.S. history. In a post on Truth Social on May 11, he said this new order will tackle a major problem that has embarrassed the U.S. for years the extremely high cost of prescription drugs.
He explained that Americans have been paying five to ten times more for the exact same medicines compared to people in other countries. These drugs are made in the same factories, by the same companies, yet the prices in the U.S. are far higher. Trump said this has been difficult to explain and has made the country look bad because there’s no fair reason for it.
He blamed pharmaceutical companies, saying they’ve always claimed high prices are due to research and development costs. But Trump said those costs have unfairly been passed onto Americans alone. He added that political donations from big drug companies have influenced things for years, but not with him and not with the current Republican Party. He promised to finally do the right thing—something he claimed Democrats talked about for years but never acted on.
Trump said this new executive order will cut drug prices for Americans by 30% to 80% almost immediately. He plans to introduce a “Most Favored Nation” policy, meaning the U.S. will only pay as much as the cheapest country in the world pays for the same drug. He said this will not only make drug prices fair for Americans but also save the country trillions of dollars in the long run.
He ended his post by saying this move will finally give Americans the fair treatment they deserve when it comes to healthcare costs. Trump emphasized that this order is not just about saving money it’s about bringing justice to a system that has been unfair for too long.
This isn’t the first time Trump has tried to lower drug prices. Back in 2020, during his first term as president, he signed executive orders aimed at cutting costs for certain medicines under Medicare. However, those orders faced legal challenges and were blocked by a federal judge.
More recently, Trump has talked about placing new tariffs on drugs made outside the U.S. He said that by doing this, pharmaceutical companies will be forced to bring their manufacturing back to America because the U.S. is their biggest market. If they don’t move production to the U.S., he warned, they’ll face heavy taxes.
At a Republican event last month, he said once these tariffs are announced, companies will leave China and other countries and set up drug manufacturing plants across the U.S. He insisted that this will create more jobs, strengthen the economy, and make medicines more affordable for Americans.
Trump’s message is clear: he believes the U.S. has been taken advantage of for too long when it comes to drug prices, and he’s now ready to fix it through one of the most powerful executive actions in American history.
