President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday, instructing pharmaceutical companies to lower prescription drug prices and face consequences from the federal government.
But that amounts to price management, as it’s not limited to government programs.
“We’ve been looking at government price controls for housing,” Cannon told Fox News Digital on Monday. “We call it rent control and create shortages. We saw it when it comes to food. We also call them the price cap there, which creates shortages.”
“After a natural disaster, we see a price cap,” he continued. “We call them anti-garging laws, and we’re going to create shortages, and that’s what we can expect to see price control generates when it comes to drugs as well. So if there’s a binding price cap, I think you’re totally wrong.”
Price control occurs when the government intervene to charge the amounts that can be charged for a variety of goods and services in the free market.
Price management could reduce costs for some consumers, but it has little effect in American history. For example, former President Richard Nixon implemented price controls in the 1970s to correct wages and other prices.
President Trump will take on “Big Pharma” by signing an executive order to lower drug prices
President Donald Trump’s May 12, 2025, executive order directs Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Department of Health and Human Services Department to establish price targets for pharmaceutical manufacturers. (Mark Wilson/Andrew Harnik)
For example, there was a series of initiatives announced in response to price adjustments in response to the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, but it was difficult to implement. In Michigan, according to a 2020 news release, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an enforcement order in March 2020, “that barred the sale of state products at a price of more than 20% higher than what a business or individual provided or charged.
Trump announced Monday that the executive order would direct the Department of Health and Human Services to establish price targets for pharmaceutical manufacturers. However, Cannon pointed out that the order applies not only to government prices, but also to the free market and the private sector.
If they fail to comply, the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission will urge “introduce enforcement measures against anti-competitive practices” along with other consequences. Additionally, Trump has introduced plans to launch “drug pricing in the most favorable countries.”
“The principle is simple: Whatever the lowest price paid for a drug in other developed countries, it’s the price that Americans pay,” Trump told the White House on Monday. “Prices for some prescription drugs and medicines will drop by almost 50-80-90%.”
“We’re going to be equal,” Trump said. “We all make the same payments. We’re going to pay what Europe pays.”
The White House opposed the comment that the move equated price management.
“If Americans had a truly free and fair market, they wouldn’t pay several times more for the exact same prescription drugs as Europeans,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement Tuesday to Fox News Digital. “President Trump’s historic executive order corrects anti-competitive behaviour that forces everyday Americans to subsidize health care in other developed countries.”
RFK Jr. will speak at the 2025 RX and Illegal Drug Summit at Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee on Thursday, April 24, 2025 (© Nicole Hester / The Tennessean / USA Today Network)
Drug prices have risen dramatically in recent years. According to the Ministry of Health and Human Services, it increased by more than 15% between January 2022 and January 2023 to January 2023, and increased by more than 15%, reaching more than 15%. Of the 4,200 prescription drugs on that list, 46% of price increases exceeded inflation.
The American Trade Group of American Pharmaceutical Research and Makers argued that the executive order would harm American patients.
“Importing foreign prices from socialist countries would be a bad deal for American patients and workers,” PhRMA president and CEO Stephen J. UBL said in a statement Monday. “That means fewer treatments and treatments will put hundreds of billions of people at risk, the hundreds of billions of people that our member companies plan to invest in America.”
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In April, President Donald Trump signed another executive order aimed at tackling Medicare drug prices. (Pool)
In April, Trump signed another executive order aimed at tackling Medicare drug prices. Specifically, the order required standardization of Medicare payments for prescription drugs to HHS, including those used by cancer patients, regardless of where the patient was being treated.
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Patients could face a drop in prices up to 60%, according to the White House fact sheet.
They were also called to match Medicare payments for certain prescription drugs with the prices hospitals pay for these drugs. This is up to 35% lower than what the government pays to acquire those drugs, according to the White House.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Diana Stancy is a political reporter for Fox News Digital, covering the White House.
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