President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday that asked pharmaceutical companies to lower U.S. prescription drug prices voluntarily — as he came up with an odd new nickname for weight-loss drugs like Ozempic.
“A friend of mine who’s a businessman … highly neurotic, brilliant businessman, seriously overweight, and he takes the fat shot drug,’” Trump said during his news conference. “He called me up and he said … ‘I just paid $88, and in New York I paid $1300. What the hell is going on?’”
“‘I checked, and it’s the same box, made in the same plant, by the same company,’” Trump said the unnamed businessman told him.
The order, which does not have a clear legal mechanism for enforcement, aims to force drug manufacturers to sell products to U.S. patients at “the most-favored-nation price,” a.k.a. matching the price that other countries pay. Trump unsuccessfully tried to enact a version of this idea for Medicare during his first term.
“Basically what we’re doing is equalizing. There’s a new word that I came up with, which I think is probably the best word. We’re going to equalize, where we’re all going to pay the same,” Trump said. “We’re going to pay what Europe's going to pay.”
During the news conference, Trump also rejected a question from ABC News’ Rachel Scott about a $400 million Qatari luxury jet he plans to accept, which appears to violate rules that prohibit the president from accepting foreign gifts:
“You should be embarrassed asking that question. They’re giving us a free jet. I could say, ‘No, no, no, don’t give us,’” Trump said. “Or I could say, ‘Thank you very much.’”
