The issue of pharmaceuticals is at the forefront of reworking the global trade order, making it arguably the telltale one among all industries, according to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Newsmax.
“Like pharmaceuticals, for a minute, you realize the United States of America pays for drugs, and the rest of the world free rides,” Lutnick told “Rob Schmitt Tonight” in an exclusive sit-down Wednesday.
“You know how you can understand the rest of the world? We pay for the drug, and they pay the copay.
“They’re paying like the $10, $20, $30.”
America is the “inventor” of everything in the world, but it has effectively offshored its production elsewhere at our own cost and peril, Lutnick told host Rob Schmitt in a near 25-minute, wide-ranging interview.
“We create the drug and we pay for the drug,” he continued. “Like it costs us $1,000 for the drug and these other countries pay $50.”
That ends under President Donald Trump.
“The idea is for the president to say, ‘really?'” Lutnick said. “How about we change that?
“And all of a sudden, fairness starts to come in. Like: You’re making the medicine; you’re making it! You’re selling it to us for $1,000, and you sell it in your own country for $50?”
Trump has the hammer in this with American excellence, according to Lutnick.
“How about this: We’re going to bring that home,” he said. “How about we bring that here.
“Since we’re the customer: Come on,” he said, bring up both hands in wave countries in. “Here we go.
“And that is the power of why Donald Trump called it Liberation Day.”
That is the term for the April 2 tariffs unveiling that roiled world markets and ultimately spooked global investors and countries, and led to the global trade restructuring — if not outright war with relation to China, according to Lutnick.
“It wasn’t the liberation in that was the number, and we’re going to do it all today,” he said. “It liberates America to have real conversation with countries about fair trade.
“Call it fair, discuss it like I just did with pharmaceuticals.
“Let’s just get it fair.”
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