Donald Trump claims he pressured Emmanuel Macron over drug pricing Credit score: Frederic Legrand – COMEO, Shutterstock
Donald Trump likes to inform tales on stage, particularly when he is proven to be a tricky negotiator on stage. On Friday, Dec. 19, in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, he provided his supporters one other related story. This time it concerned what seemed to be a showdown with French President Emmanuel Macron over pharmaceutical costs.
Trump spoke at a rally defending his financial document, claiming he as soon as threatened France with excessive tariffs to pressure drug costs up, which Trump says was essential to decrease drug costs for People. In Paris, the response was swift and skeptical. The Elysée Palace dismissed the story, saying it merely “would not make sense.”
a narrative instructed to show a degree
Trump was in marketing campaign mode, keen to explain his first 12 months in workplace because the “most profitable” of any US president. He instructed the viewers that a lot of that success was on account of “important reductions” in prescription drug costs in the USA.
To elucidate how he completed that, Mr. Trump launched into an anecdote about his cellphone dialog with Mr. Macron. Trump stated he instructed the French president that France wanted to double and even triple the worth of sure medicines.
After Macron allegedly refused, Trump claims it rapidly escalated. “Sure, we are going to,” he replied, earlier than saying that France had threatened to impose a 25% tariff on all the things it sells to the USA.
President Trump instructed the viewers that there was “whole silence” on the cellphone on the time. A short while later, he stated, Macron agreed. President Trump insisted that the French chief had responded.
The story drew applause because it dovetailed with President Trump’s long-standing declare that different international locations profit from decrease drug costs whereas People pay a lot greater costs.
France: This story is ‘unsenseful’
In Paris, the authorities wasted little time in resisting. An Elysée Palace official stated this rationalization had “no foundation in actuality” and pointed to key particulars that Trump’s story missed. That’s, the French president doesn’t set drug costs.
In France, prescription drug costs are negotiated between the state and pharmaceutical firms primarily based on a strict regulatory system designed to take care of affordability. These costs have remained largely steady in current months, officers stated, including that anybody who visits a pharmacy can simply see for themselves.
However this disagreement touches on actual points. In accordance with a examine by the Rand Company, prescription drug costs in the USA are about 2.5 instances dearer than in international locations like France. President Trump has repeatedly argued that this distinction quantities to People subsidizing cheaper well being care overseas.
President Trump’s Broad Technique on Drug Costs
Mr. Trump has been vocal about his plans to alter this steadiness. Earlier this 12 months, he introduced a coverage that will tie U.S. drug costs to the bottom costs on this planet. He known as it “an important medical improvement because the founding of our nation” on Friday.
He promised that People would begin seeing “drastic” value cuts beginning in January, including that this coverage alone can be sufficient to make sure Republican victory within the 2026 midterm elections.
Hours earlier than the speech in North Carolina, the U.S. authorities confirmed that 9 main pharmaceutical firms, together with France’s Sanofi Group, had reached an settlement to scale back the costs of sure medication in trade for brand spanking new tariff exemptions. President Trump stated related offers have already been signed with Pfizer and AstraZeneca, and extra might be signed quickly.
President Trump says pharmaceutical firms finally cooperated. “The massive drawback was overseas,” he stated.
Message to voters
The context for Trump’s remarks was no coincidence. North Carolina is at present held by Republicans and is seen as a key battleground state heading into the midterm elections. Current polls counsel that many citizens stay unconvinced that the promised value cuts will really attain their pockets.
President Trump used the rally to dismiss warnings that tariffs would spur inflation. “They stated tariffs would trigger inflation,” he instructed supporters. “We simply hit the very best inflation charge in years.”
It stays questionable whether or not President Macron’s cellphone dialog happened as President Trump described. However what is obvious is the message he wished voters to listen to. He fought overseas governments and massive pharmaceutical firms, and received.
In France, officers seem much less impressed. As one supply notes, irrespective of how assured you might be, a dramatic cellphone name would not decide the worth of a drug.
For extra US information, keep tuned to masterlifehacks