Trump vows to force European countries to pay higher drug prices

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2025/05/12/trump-vows-to-force-higher-medicine-prices-in-eu-as-he-looks-to-lower-us-drugs-prices/

38 comments

  1. Because we can’t fathom actually paying LESS as Americans. So instead let’s punish the rest of the world too. 🤦‍♂️

  4. Europeans would rather ignore US drug patents than pay their prices

  5. Oh that’s where he got his plan of “reducing drug prices” in the US, of course!

  6. So, why exactly does anyone HAVE to increase the price? Open the market wider at a lower price point, EviCorp makes their Kajillion Bucks and Timmy’s whole family lives a bit longer, can work in the yearned for mines for RichDouche and generally spend money longer?

  7. Guess where the top selling medication in the US comes from.

  8. Didnt he say the “middleman” is the cause of high drug prices in the US? And didnt he say the middleman should be removed and that will bring the drug prices down?

    I suppose the middleman will stay now and to justify the high prices he wants Europe to pay the same high prices. Thats what he considers a deal…for the middleman

  9. So, that’s a no. Canada is on the top 5 pharma exporters, and, unless he is attacking individual companies for individial drugs, it’s the same price it’s always been. Or less?

  10. This is because the CEO of The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, Stephen J. Ubl said, “To lower costs for Americans, **we need to address the real reasons U.S. prices are higher: foreign countries not paying their fair share** and middlemen driving up prices for U.S. patients.”

    These people are evil. And Trump is stupid and evil so he’s running with this.

  11. If you get a prescription from the Doctor it’s a fixed price here.  Free in some cases for pensioners, if you’re on certain benefits etc.  current price is £9.90.  Of course over the counter stuff varies but it’s similar in other places with national health care I believe.

  12. If Murica goes ahead with it, generic drugs will pump up, making of it an amazing solution to medicine costs.

  13. Europe will play the same games as China now we know how quickly Trump folds.

  14. # Trump vows to force ________ to pay for ________.

    Seems like everything comes from this administration starts with this sentence in one form or another.

  15. This is pure evil.

    Less medicine to go round.

    Or to have to pay more for it.

    Just to feed Trump’s ego.

    Fuck that guy.

  16. Trump trying not to say dumb shit on daily: challenge level impossible

  17. Trying desperately to make everything and everyone else at fault, doesn’t make US better.

  18. He couldn’t even get Mexico to pay for “the Wall,” which by the way is never brought up anymore. But he is going to *force* Europe to pay more. Yessir, sounds like a real threat. /s

  22. He could be working on making it more affordable for his own people, but naa, let’s try and force other countries to pay more.

    What a cunt.

  24. We as Europeans won’t accept getting fucked because you as a country elected your clown. The climate, at least here, is openly hostile to you and with a headline like that and every one of us having a grandma or father who needs monthly medicines, it will be pure hatred and anger.

    God knows where we go from there.

  25. Man half of Americans are so brainwashed that they’ve become masochists willing to prop up the ultra rich at their own expenses.

  26. Did he just realise yesterday’s EO that was to force pharma in the US to pay prices of other competitor countries, means *lower* prices?

    That reason for the 100mil kickback he personally received from the pharmaceuticals now becomes clear.

    Good luck expecting anyone in Europe to willingly cripple themselves financially buying asthma inhalers, bud.

  27. Those nasty Europeans, they get free healthcare and Biden is making Americans pay for all of it! Every penny comes off your MASSIVE maga check which would have been in the mail already if it wasn’t for Obama and his tariffs!

  28. wtf is wrong with him? He’d rather bow to those big corpo and make enemies with Europe, their old allies? His brain must be rather expensive — it’s still brand new; it’s never been used before.

  29. European countries negotiate their prices in the market like everyone else. They drive a hard bargain, they employ nation-sized economies of scale, and they do it on a not-for-profit basis – that’s why prices are as good as they can be while still allowing drug producers to make a healthy profit.

    I don’t know why the US doesn’t do that. But that’s a them problem.

  30. Europe produce most of the drug usa needs… that’s a great tactic…. for a moron

  31. The lovely part being : Most manufacturers are European.

  32. The EU supplies more than half of the world’s medicine. The US is at 11%.

    You don’t have the cards, Donald

  34. Yeah, instead of making healtcare a normal human right, like the rest of the world, just force others to have a ruined system themselves as well.

  35. Now this is stupidity and ignorance if I ever saw one: the EU is manufacturing the vast majority of its drugs. 👏🤣

    Novartis, Roche, Sanofi, GSK, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Merck KGaA, Novo Nordisk, Boehringer Ingelheim, UCB, Siemens Healthineers, Philips Healthcare, Fresenius, Getinge, EssilorLuxottica, Straumann, Smith & Nephew, yep all European.

  36. Hi! Snobby European here.

    In reality, we don’t actually import American pharmaceuticals *that* much. European countries supply 81% of our drugs. The missing 19% comes from countries like China, India and America.

    The overall America’s portion of our combined pharma is 12%. It’s not *nothing*, but I think Trump and MAGA think they have much larger leverage than they actually have. If you were going by these headlines alone, you might think we’re going to live in a dystopian hellscape where we pay an exorbitant, near-American prices for our drugs. Just as a thought game dropping 12% ->6% would mean we’d have to buy 2+2% more Chinese/Indian, and maybe ramp up Switzerland from 10 to 12%.

    *Now let’s flip it around.* Are you guys aware to what extent America imports pharmaceuticals? You guys supply a smaller percentage of your drugs yourselves, 65% of your pharma is domestic. Of those (imported) pharmaceuticals 2/3 come from Europe. Which means we supply *you* 23% of your all drug needs vs your 12% you import us.

    TL;DR: So let’s say you slap a whopping 50% price increase to all your prices to Europe. Congratulations. Europeans now pay 6% more for our drugs. Which will slowly phase out to other suppliers.

  37. Imagine his shock once we simply stop importing from US – in many European countries it’s quite normal for doctors to tell you to take A, B, C or D, depending by budget, cheaper equivalents of medicine are decently common here.

    Europe is not US, we don’t keep monopolies on medicines so they’ll simply lose the market.

  38. Good luck with that. Because I’m pretty sure if he tries anything, European countries will just stop recognising American patents on pharmaceutical products and allow European manufactures to make the drugs themselves at a lower cost to consumers.

Comments are closed.