Trump has rolled back a Biden order that mandated negotiations to the lower cost of drugs for people using Medicare and Medicaid

On the first day of his second term in the White House, President Donald Trump rescinded a key executive order signed by his predecessor that aimed to reduce prescription drug prices in the United States, where medication costs significantly outpace those in peer nations.

The rollback of Executive Order 14087, titled Lowering Prescription Drug Costs for Americans, was part of a flurry of rescissions Trump ordered shortly after his inauguration. The decision halts several pilot programs initiated by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, including one that offered generic drugs to Medicare Part D recipients for a $2 copay.

"This move is a clear indicator of how Trump plans to address drug prices," said Social Security Works, a progressive advocacy group, in response to the rescission.

Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at KFF, noted that "the big question, which Trump hasn't yet answered, is how he plans to handle government negotiation of drug prices under the Inflation Reduction Act."

Just days before Trump returned to office, the Biden administration had unveiled a list of 15 drugs set to undergo direct price negotiations between the federal government and pharmaceutical companies. The pharmaceutical industry, which has sued to block the negotiation program, has so far failed in its legal challenges.

Last week, Reuters reported that the pharmaceutical lobby has been pressuring Trump's administration to weaken the price negotiation provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act.

"Donald Trump is already delivering on his dangerous agenda to drive up drug prices to appease his billionaire backers," said Alex Floyd, rapid response director for the Democratic National Committee. "After the Biden-Harris administration took on Big Pharma and won, Trump is showing once again that he lied to the American people. He doesn't care about lowering costs—only about benefiting himself and his ultra-rich friends."

In a broader response to Trump's wave of executive orders—many of which targeted immigrants and environmental protections—Working Families Party national director Maurice Mitchell stated, "Trump's flood of executive orders is just a cheap spectacle meant to distract us while his administration moves to gut healthcare and SNAP benefits."