It’s Time To Stop Wealthy Nations Freeloading on US Medicines

NEWSWEEK

For over a year, German officials have obstructed one of the Trump administration's most important reform initiatives. And the president's patience just ran out.

The White House has repeatedly asked allied countries to roll back their price controls on prescription drugs. If those nations started paying market prices for medicines invented and manufactured in the United States, it would relieve the pressure on American patients, employers, and taxpayers—who are currently forced to fund a disproportionate share of the research and development that benefits the entire world. And it'd boost America's biotech companies and spur more job-creating research investments.

But German leaders have refused to cooperate. In fact, the German government just doubled down on its long-standing price controls—by passing a law that increases the mandatory rebates that biotech companies must offer German insurers.

That escalation left the Trump administration with no choice but to formally launch a Section 301 investigation into Germany's pricing practices. It's the first step in a process that could allow the White House to impose legally airtight tariffs and other trade penalties on Germany—unless Berlin comes to its senses and enacts President Trump's desired reforms.

The investigation is fully justified. But the administration shouldn't stop with Germany. Nearly every major trading partner engages in similarly unfair pricing practices that harm American patients and workers.

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