The Trump Announcement Even HE Considered One Of His Biggest EVER

One of the ways Trump has been beating media gatekeepers at their own game is through extreme transparency… endless media access and frequent use of social media to bypass the filters.

Like FDR’s ‘fireside chats’, or Reagan’s Saturday night TV equivalent, the internet has given Trump’s administration a tool to speak directly and unfiltered to the broader public.

On Sunday, he teased one of his biggest announcements yet:

There were a few big announcements he might have had in mind.

Was it that America had repatriated another citizen that had been held hostage abroad?

That’s great news, but there was another truth before that one.

Was it his announcement that a trade deal has been struck with China that we will learn more about tomorrow?

That’s obviously a massive win. But it’s not the one he had in mind.

What did he think was bigger than either of those stories? An executive order on drug prices.

Remember how Trump’s foremost concern is that American’s not played for chumps by letting the rest of the world get a free ride from our efforts and money?

How his trade negotiations have been built around an expectation of reciprocity?

He’s carried that same principle over to the pharmaceutical industry.

In his own words:

@realDonaldTrump
For many years the World has wondered why Prescription Drugs and Pharmaceuticals in the United States States of America were SO MUCH HIGHER IN PRICE THAN THEY WERE IN ANY OTHER NATION, SOMETIMES BEING FIVE TO TEN TIMES MORE EXPENSIVE THAN THE SAME DRUG, MANUFACTURED IN THE EXACT SAME LABORATORY OR PLANT, BY THE SAME COMPANY??? It was always difficult to explain and very embarrassing because, in fact, there was no correct or rightful answer. The Pharmaceutical/Drug Companies would say, for years, that it was Research and Development Costs, and that all of these costs were, and would be, for no reason whatsoever, borne by the “suckers” of America, ALONE. Campaign Contributions can do wonders, but not with me, and not with the Republican Party. We are going to do the right thing, something that the Democrats have fought for many years. Therefore, I am pleased to announce that Tomorrow morning, in the White House, at 9:00 A.M., I will be signing one of the most consequential Executive Orders in our Country’s history. Prescription Drug and Pharmaceutical prices will be REDUCED, almost immediately, by 30% to 80%. They will rise throughout the World in order to equalize and, for the first time in many years, bring FAIRNESS TO AMERICA! I will be instituting a MOST FAVORED NATION’S POLICY whereby the United States will pay the same price as the Nation that pays the lowest price anywhere in the World. Our Country will finally be treated fairly, and our citizens Healthcare Costs will be reduced by numbers never even thought of before. Additionally, on top of everything else, the United States will save TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

The short version:
Whatever price is charged to some other country for use of a medication is the price that America will pay.

Having watched him at work so far, here’s a Clashdaily prediction to keep in your back pocket:

1) There will be a hue and cry over how this will unfairly burden the poorest of nations, like Burundi, which has an average monthly income of $18 USD.
2) This is his opening bargaining position, not his final position
3) While many developing countries cannot absorb this kind of price shock, modern industrialized countries have been happily letting America absorb the brunt of the cost, while bragging about their superior health care systems CAN and SHOULD absorb this price shock.
4) Watch for Trump’s final position to include be splitting the difference in some way where the poorest nations will be exempted from the ‘lowest price’, but all modernized nations (yes, China too!) will be paying an approximately equivalent, sharing the burden of research costs between us.

And while we’re on the topic of Executive Orders, that photo was from a couple of days ago, when Trump reversed an order from the Autopen on Christmas Eve that would have outlawed gas water heaters, and put unnecessary restrictions on any number of other dishwashers, toilets, washing machines and other related appliances, beyond which it would cost 300 jobs in Georgia.

Trump reversed it, saving those jobs.