President Trump is expected to announce a next step in his plan related to “most favored nation” drug pricing, potentially including an unpublished Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services drug pricing pilot program.
The White House had previously given drugmakers until September 29th to offer “most favored nation” prices matching those of other developed nations.
As part of a flurry of Truth Social posts yesterday evening, President Trump also announced his plan to place 100% tariffs on patented pharmaceutical products on October 1st, unless drug companies have “broken ground” or are building manufacturing plants in the United States. The announcement appears to be connected to the Commerce Department's Section 232 investigation on pharmaceutical imports, though the public has not yet had the chance to see the results justifying such tariffs.
“Raising drug prices abroad will do absolutely nothing to lower them at home, and of course drugmakers have not lowered prices on their own,” said Peter Maybarduk, Public Citizen Access to Medicines director.” “Making medicine affordable and reliably available depends on public investment and serious legislation, not tariff chaos and bullying countries that have the good sense to negotiate affordable prices for their people.”
“Trump is continuing his pattern of grabbing headlines using the word ‘tariff] while engaging in secretive ongoing negotiations and opaque exemptions processes that are ripe for corporate corruption,” said Melinda St. Louis, Public Citizen Global Trade Watch director. “While strategic tariffs can be used to support domestic manufacturing and good jobs, they must be paired with real public investments and support for workers’ rights, which Trump has systematically undermined.”
In May, Public Citizen published a backgrounder on President Trump’s “most favored nation” executive order and filed comments to the U.S. trade representative on a related policy that falsely claims that prescription drug prices are high for Americans because they are lower elsewhere. Public Citizen also filed comments in the Section 232 investigation on pharmaceuticals.
Public Citizen experts Peter Maybarduk, Access to Medicines director and Melinda St. Louis, Global Trade Watch director are available for comment.
This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
Newswire Editor | Radio Free (2025-09-26T17:19:38+00:00) Trump Administration to Enact Sweeping Pharmaceutical Tariffs, Expected to Announce New Phase in Drug Pricing Plan. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2025/09/26/trump-administration-to-enact-sweeping-pharmaceutical-tariffs-expected-to-announce-new-phase-in-drug-pricing-plan/
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