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 "I'm going to be giving governors the right very shortly to buy ...
their prescription drugs from other countries," Trump said at a
White House event accompanied by Health and Human Services (HHS)
Secretary Alex Azar, among other officials.
Trump said he was working with governors including Florida
Republican Ron DeSantis on the plan. "They're going to buy from
other countries and skip all of the nonsense."
Trump campaigned on a platform to reduce drug prices for U.S.
consumers and has slammed the pharmaceutical industry for high
prices.
Most other developed nations directly or indirectly negotiate drug
pricing with companies, and in some cases may deny access to
medicines they deem too expensive, while pricing in the United
States is left to the free market and set by drugmakers.
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Trump has floated the idea before, but it was not immediately clear
how such imports would work. The idea has been mulled for years but
never implemented, given U.S. regulations to ensure safety and
staunch industry opposition.
Trump's comments came after HHS announced two rules to increase
price transparency among hospitals, group health plans and health
insurers.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Tim Ahmann; Writing by Alexandra Alper;
Editing by Chris Reese and Tom Brown)
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