Pressure Through Trade Leverage

President Donald Trump has again framed drug pricing as a transatlantic burden-sharing issue, asserting that European governments should pay more so Americans pay less. Speaking on Dec. 22, 2025, from Mar-a-Lago, Trump said he personally compelled Emmanuel Macron to accept higher pharmaceutical prices in France. The account reprises remarks Trump made at a political rally three days earlier, casting drug pricing as inseparable from trade pressure and tariff leverage.

Trump, 79, described a direct exchange in which he urged Macron to “raise your drug prices,” recounting that the French leader initially refused. Trump said he persisted, repeating, “You have to,” and later, “You’re going to do it, 100 percent.” The anecdote, delivered with a mock imitation of Macron, underscores Trump’s long-running argument that U.S. consumers subsidize lower drug costs abroad.

“You’re going to do it”

According to Trump’s telling, the stalemate ended only after he threatened punitive trade measures. “If you don’t do it, I’m going to put a 25 percent tariff on everything France sells into the United States of America,” he said. Trump claimed Macron responded with “I see,” and relented. No independent confirmation accompanied the account, and the remarks rest solely on the U.S. president’s description of the exchange.

The White House has for several years argued that price controls and negotiated caps in Europe distort global pharmaceutical markets. Trump reiterated that line, saying higher prices overseas would “help prices fall in the United States,” a claim he has repeated in speeches and interviews throughout 2025.

Tariffs, Prices, and Silence in Paris

The comments also intersect with broader trade arrangements. This summer, Washington and the European Union agreed on a tariff framework setting a 15 percent tax on most European exports to the U.S. market. Trump’s reference to a 25 percent tariff on French goods exceeds that figure, highlighting how drug pricing has been rhetorically linked to wider trade disputes.

Notably, since that summer agreement, there has been no presidential announcement or formal decision in France regarding changes to national drug pricing policy. French authorities have not publicly acknowledged any concession tied to U.S. demands. The absence of policy movement contrasts with Trump’s assertion of a 100 percent commitment secured through personal diplomacy and trade threats.