President Donald Trump has issued a stark ultimatum to British pharmaceutical giants, warning they have 60 days to slash the prices of their medicines in the U.S. market or face aggressive action from his administration.
“We will use every tool in our arsenal,” Trump vowed on Saturday, targeting 17 drug companies in an escalating campaign to force them to match the reduced prices they offer in developing nations for the U.S. healthcare system.
The move comes as the administration rolls out a wave of new tariffs on dozens of countries, including punitive duties on neighboring Canada, intensifying an already heated global trade climate.
British drugmakers AstraZeneca and GSK saw their shares tumble amid investor fears over White House pressure, as Trump seeks to deliver on his pledge to bring down prescription costs for Americans.
Analysts warn the policy could have ripple effects across the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), which benefits from strong bargaining power with suppliers due to its massive purchasing scale, an advantage that could erode if companies are forced to harmonize prices globally.
Trump is pushing for drugmakers to apply a “most-favored nation” pricing model to Medicaid, the program serving low-income Americans, effectively demanding that the U.S. pay no more than the lowest price offered internationally.
“Cooperation toward global price parity in medicines would be the most effective path for companies, governments, and American patients alike,” Trump said in a statement. But his letter to pharmaceutical executives carried a blunt warning, “If you refuse, we will use every tool in our arsenal to protect American families from unfair and excessive pricing practices. Americans need lower drug prices today, not tomorrow.”
The president’s remarks rattled markets, wiping an estimated £16 billion off the European pharmaceutical sector’s market value amid concerns that lower U.S. prices could be offset by higher costs elsewhere in the world.
Skeptics question whether Trump has the legal authority to impose direct drug price cuts, noting a similar effort during his first term was struck down in court. Back then, Trump accused current pricing models of “subsidizing socialism abroad” by selling identical medicines, made in the same factories, at cheaper rates overseas, fueling inflated prices at home.
Saturday’s warning coincided with Trump signing an executive order imposing new tariffs on 68 countries plus the European Union. Canada was hit particularly hard, with duties raised from 25% to 35%, over what the White House called Ottawa’s “failure to cooperate” in halting the flow of illicit drugs, especially fentanyl, into the U.S.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney defended his country’s efforts, citing “historic investments in border security to apprehend drug traffickers and end migrant smuggling.”
Switzerland, stunned by tariffs of 39%, far higher than anticipated, said it would continue negotiations with Washington to defuse the trade escalation.
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