Trump threatens to limit imports if countries don’t pay more for drugs

President Trump on Thursday threatened to limit imports of products from foreign countries if they don’t work with pharmaceutical companies to pay more for drugs as a way to lower the costs for medicines in the United States.

Earlier this month, the president signed an Executive Order tying the prices of prescription drugs in the U.S. to what they cost in other countries under a program dubbed “Most Favored Nation.”

If countries fight against drugmakers, “That’s ok. We are not going to let you send any more cars into the United States,” Trump said at a White House event for the release of the Make America Healthy Again report.

“Or we’re not going to let you sell more wine or liquor or alcohol, or something that’s actually much more important to them than the drugs. And we’re going to be able to force that issue if we need to.”

In his remarks, Trump predicted that Americans would save as much as 80% on prescription drugs compared to what they pay now with the Most Favored Nation program.

He also contended the MFN wouldn’t impact pharmaceutical companies’ bottom lines. “There shouldn’t be a hit on their stock,” adding that their income source will be “redistributed…so [other countries are] going to pay a little more, and we’re going to pay a lot less.”