Trump seeks to cut drug prices via executive order

The president's order tells pharmaceutical companies to lower prescription drug prices, but it will likely be thrown out by the courts

US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (L) speaks as US President Donald Trump looks on during a news conference about prescription drug prices, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on May 12, 2025, in Washington, DC.
Trump's order 'cites no obvious legal authority to mandate lower prices'
(Image credit: Jim Watson / AFP via Getty Images)

What happened

President Donald Trump Monday signed an executive order aimed at persuading pharmaceutical companies to lower the prices of U.S. prescription drugs. Trump's order gives companies a 30-day deadline to start voluntarily lowering prices or face potential consequences.

Who said what

The White House "teased the announcement as seismic," but Trump's order lacks "teeth" and "cites no obvious legal authority to mandate lower prices," The New York Times said. It was "something of a win" for drugmakers, which had been "bracing" for a "much more damaging" policy. "Far from demonizing pharmaceutical companies for high prices," The Washington Post said, Trump "focused his fire" on European countries "for negotiating drug prices so low" the U.S. picks up the "costs of innovation."

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said while he agreed with Trump that U.S. drug prices are "an outrage," the problem was not that prices are "too low in Europe and Canada" but that the "extraordinarily greedy pharmaceutical industry" is "ripping off the American people." Besides, he added, "as Trump well knows, his executive order will be thrown out by the courts."

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What next?

If drug companies do not lower their prices, Trump's order directs Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to develop a new rule that "ties the price the U.S. pays for medications to lower prices paid by other countries," said The Associated Press.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.