Trump makes profoundly stupid promise on drug prices and then acts to raise prices instead

Trump promises to cut drug prices by 1,500%—then doubles them instead

by kos, Daily Kos Staff

I swear, the most talented writer in Hollywood couldn’t come up with this script.

Start with President Donald Trump making the mathematically impossible promise to cut prices by 1,000%. 

“We have something coming up, favored nations, where I’m going to be reducing drug prices by 1,400-1,500%,” he said in late August.

And again just last week, Trump said, “We’re gonna be reducing drug prices down to a level that nobody—not by 20%, 30%—by like 1,000%. Because, you know, we’re paying sometimes 10 times more than other nations, and we’re not doing it anymore.”

If you take a drug’s price down to zero, that’s a 100% reduction. Anything beyond that dips into negative numbers. Was Trump really promising that drug companies would pay people to take their drugs? Of course not. He’s just that profoundly stupid.

Now, it is true that drugs in the United States are far more expensive than abroad. Republicans—and some Democrats—have long blocked reimportation of cheaper Canadian drugs. And Canada isn’t thrilled either. Big Pharma lobbyists, laughably, claim that importing identical drugs from across the border is a health risk.

To his credit, Trump has consistently made noise about lowering prices—even during his first term—but it still hasn’t been enough to cut through Big Pharma’s lobbyists. But the truth is, Trump doesn’t really care. He doesn’t have to worry about affording prescriptions, and neither does his family.

And yesterday, he proved that again by announcing on Truth Social a plan that would double many prescription drug prices. 

Starting October 1st, 2025, we will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any branded or patented Pharmaceutical Product, unless a Company IS BUILDING their Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plant in America. “IS BUILDING” will be defined as, “breaking ground” and/or “under construction.” There will, therefore, be no Tariff on these Pharmaceutical Products if construction has started. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

So in one week, if foreign manufacturers haven’t bought land, drawn up plans, secured permits, and broken ground, Americans will pay the price.

A 2019 Government Accounting Office study found that more than 60% of drug manufacturers for the U.S. market were located overseas in fiscal year 2018. Similarly, the Food and Drug Administration estimated that about 40% of finished drugs and 80% of active drug ingredients are manufactured overseas.

Trump promised to lower prices “on Day 1.” Instead, he’s about to double prices on one of the most expensive line items in many families’ budgets. Not to mention, the impact on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and veteran resources could be catastrophic.

And that’s real math.