Trump's Ongoing Tariff Chaos Will Make Medications Less Affordable And Harder To Find

From the Health Affairs Forefront

By Aaron S. Kesselheim, MD, JD, MPH and Jerry Avorn, MD

SUMMARY: This Health Affairs Forefront piece by Kesselheim and Avorn reviews the gap between the Trump administration's rhetoric on drug pricing and its actual policy record, and warns that new tariff-based initiatives represent a step backward. The authors note that despite considerable noise about lowering drug prices in Trump's first term, little of consequence was accomplished. In the second term, rapidly shifting surcharge threats on pharmaceutical imports add new volatility to an already dysfunctional drug pricing system. The authors argue these measures risk making medications both less affordable and harder to find. The piece situates tariff policy within the broader context of US drug pricing dysfunction and calls for coherent, evidence-based policy rather than reactive trade measures. (Note: Full text paywalled beyond opening excerpt; summary reflects publicly available text.)

BACKGROUND: Trump administration drug pricing policy in the first term was characterized by significant rhetoric but limited substantive results.

KEY FINDINGS: New tariff initiatives constitute "rapidly shifting surcharge threats" likely to worsen drug affordability and disrupt the pharmaceutical supply chain.

IMPLICATIONS: Ill-conceived tariff measures applied to pharmaceutical imports risk making medications both less affordable and harder to find, compounding existing pricing dysfunction.