Trump threatens drugmakers with tariffs if they don't move production to US

Trump also didn't commit to pushing Congress to water down a drug pricing programme enacted under President Joe Biden that the pharmaceutical industry has been seeking relief from

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By Rachel Cohrs Zhang, Damian Garde and Skylar Woodhouse

 

President Donald Trump warned drugmakers in a private meeting that tariffs are coming and said companies should hustle to move overseas manufacturing to the US, according to two people familiar with the conversation. 

Trump also didn’t commit to pushing Congress to water down a drug pricing program enacted under President Joe Biden that the pharmaceutical industry has been seeking relief from. 

 

The president’s tone suggests the pharmaceutical industry’s bid to win an ally in the White House might be more difficult than executives had hoped. Despite his pro-business leanings, Trump had a rocky relationship with drug companies in his first term, at one point accusing them of “getting away with murder” on the price of medicines. 

 

Trump met at the White House on Thursday with executives including Eli Lilly & Co. Chief Executive Officer David Ricks, Merck & Co. CEO Robert Davis, Pfizer Inc. CEO Albert Bourla, and Stephen Ubl, leader of the industry’s biggest lobbying organization. The executives had hoped to convince Trump to support scaling back a law that allows the federal government to negotiate certain drug prices, as well as support policies to rein in the middlemen that the industry blames for rising out-of-pocket costs. 

 

Executives asked Trump to support equalizing the amount of time that drugs are excluded from the price negotiation program. The timelines are currently different for complicated injectable medicines and pills that can be made at a lower cost, which the industry has argued warps incentives for drug development. 

 

Trump wouldn’t commit to doing so, the people familiar with the meeting said. Trump expressed concern that making changes to drug pricing policy could complicate a Republican effort to pass tax reforms.

 

On Friday, Trump reiterated complaints he made during his first term that the US pays too much for prescription drugs compared with other countries. In statements from the White House, Trump said Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mehmet Oz, his nominee to lead Medicare and Medicaid, are looking to lower drug prices. 

 

“I hope you focus really a lot on the cost too, because Americans have been screwed, and it’s no good, not going to put up with it,” Trump said to Kennedy. He added that people in the US pay more for the same prescription drugs than those in London, without singling out specific medications. 

 

Medicare officials also said Friday that they’re moving forward with the next phase of the drug pricing negotiation program initiated under Biden, another sign that the industry’s efforts to change the process haven’t gained traction. The next round of price negotiations include Ozempic and Wegovy, blockbuster medications used for weight loss.  

 

Executives have previously expressed optimism about the second Trump term, despite his past criticisms of the industry and his appointment of Kennedy, who has espoused discredited theories about vaccines and other medicines, to serve as health secretary.