US President Donald Trump mocked his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron by imitating him during a speech, claiming he pressured Paris into agreeing to sharply raise its drug prices by threatening to impose steep tariffs on French imports to the United States. Trump said the US had subsidised global healthcare for decades and argued that his Most Favoured Nation policy forced swift compliance from other countries.
Addressing Republican lawmakers, Trump said he asked the French president to raise prescription drug prices because Americans were paying “14 times” more than consumers in France. He claimed Macron initially rejected the proposal.
Trump said he then issued an ultimatum, warning France that it would face a 25 per cent tariff on all its exports to the US, including champagne and wine, if it did not comply. According to Trump, the tariff threat led Macron to back down.
Recalling the alleged exchange, Trump said the French leader told him, "Donalddd, you have a deal. I would like to increase my prescription drug prices by 200 per cent or whatever. Whatever you want, Donald, please don't tell the population, I beg you."
“Every country said the same thing,” Trump added.
He claimed the tariff he threatened against France would have been “42 times more expensive” than the concessions he was seeking. Trump said that following the agreement, France increased drug prices from $10 per pill to $30, while prices in the US fell.
Neither Macron nor the French government has issued an immediate response to Trump’s remarks.
Trump further claimed that in talks with other countries, foreign leaders typically agreed to raise their drug prices within an average of “3.2 minutes” after he threatened tariffs.
“We would be honoured to quadruple our drug prices, if that's what you like,” Trump said, describing his alleged conversations with other world leaders.
The comments came as Trump continues to promote his Most Favoured Nation policy, which aims to reduce US prescription drug costs by linking Medicare payments to the lowest prices charged by drugmakers in other developed countries. Trump has said he negotiated significant price cuts under the policy, claiming reductions of “400, 500, and even 600 per cent,” and announced that the lower prices would be available from January through a new website, TrumpRx.gov.
