Trump says he asked 17 drugmakers to take steps to cut U.S. prices within 60 days
CNBC6 days
Trump Asks 17 Pharma Companies to Cut Drug Prices
Above: Medicines at a shop in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, on July 31, 2025. Image copyright: Firdous Nazir/NurPhoto/Getty Images
The Spin
Pro-Trump narrative
Trump's pharmaceutical gambit exploits America's leverage as the world's largest drug market while threatening free-market solutions — import liberalization and patent reform — that Big Pharma has blocked through lobbying. By bypassing congressional gridlock and directly confronting an industry that's bilked consumers for decades, he's weaponizing executive power for the people.
Anti-Trump narrative
Trump's voluntary price reduction gambit is economic theater masquerading as policy. Rather than confronting America's broken pharmaceutical pricing system, he's pursuing a dangerous zero-sum strategy that would force other nations to subsidize the U.S.' dysfunction while delivering negligible savings to Americans — a cynical deflection that perpetuates the very problems he claims to solve.