Trump’s drug price controls are the wrong prescription for a real problem

President Donald Trump is right that Americans pay too high a price for many pharmaceuticals. In a May 12 speech and signing of an executive order aimed at rectifying the problem, Trump correctly diagnosed the reasons for high prescription drug costs.

However, Trump’s legally unenforceable executive order slapping effective price controls on medicines is the wrong prescription for this predicament.

To understand what Trump got right, it’s important to note what he got wrong about the solution.

Trump’s order instructs pharmaceutical companies to slash their prices so American consumers are charged the lowest price companies charge globally and insists that private and public insurers in the United States benefit from “most-favored nation” status. Technically, the executive order imposes overt price controls over the entire industry, rather

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