U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the members of the media before boarding Marine One to depart for Scotland, on the South Lawn at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 25, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura
President Donald Trump signed off on a series of letters Thursday to 17 American pharmaceutical companies demanding they lower drug prices for Medicaid patients within 60 days, and under threat that his administration would “deploy every tool in our arsenal” to gain compliance.
The letters were previewed on Thursday by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, shortly before Trump posted all 17 of them to social media. Sent to major pharmaceutical companies like Boehringer Ingelheim and AbbVie, Trump demanded the companies extend to Americans what’s known as "most-favored-nation" drug pricing, which would require offering drugs at prices similar to those of other nations.
“Make no mistake: a collaborative effort towards achieving global pricing parity would be the most effective path for companies, the government, and American patients,” the letter reads. “But if you refuse to step up, we will deploy every tool in our arsenal to protect American families from the continued abusive drug pricing practices.”
Americans have historically paid significantly higher prices for drugs than other countries. The popular GLP-1 drug Ozempic, for example, costs an average of $936 a month in the United States. Conversely, the same drug in Germany, Sweden, Australia and France has an average monthly cost $103, $96, $86 and $83, respectively.
Under Trump’s demand, which extends to “every (drug) manufacturer doing business in our great country,” pharmaceutical companies would also have to guarantee MFN pricing for newly-launched drugs and provide those reduced costs directly to consumers and businesses.
The demand would also require pharmaceutical companies to “negotiate harder” with other nations on drug pricing, a provision likely to result in companies raising drug prices abroad. The extra revenue from potentially raising prices abroad, however, would be required to be used to “lower drug prices for American patients and taxpayers through an explicit agreement with the United States.”
“Americans are demanding lower drug prices, and they need them today,” the letter reads. “Other nations have been freeloading on U.S. innovation for far too long; it is time they pay their fair share.”