TACD has published a new statement warning that using tariff threats to pressure countries into raising medicine prices in Europe will harm patients without solving high drug prices in the United States. The statement responds to the so‑called “Most Favored Nation” drug pricing approach and recent U.S. trade moves that seek to lower domestic prices by pushing U.S. trading partners to pay more for medicines.
The Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD), a network of consumer rights, public health, intellectual property and trade policy experts from the U.S. and Europe, opposes the use of coercive trade measures to force higher medicine prices in Europe. TACD stresses that raising prices abroad will not lower prices for U.S. patients but will instead further boost pharmaceutical industry profits and undermine policies that keep medicine prices in check.
Risks for European patients
TACD highlights that prescription drug corporations have been raising prices on both sides of the Atlantic for years, placing growing pressure on patients and already stretched public health budgets. The statement warns that industry is using recent trade deals to intensify lobbying in Europe, including threats to delay or withhold drug launches if lawmakers refuse to weaken pricing and reimbursement rules.
TACD’s key demands
TACD urges the EU to reject any attempts to erode medicines pricing standards via trade negotiations or tariff threats, and to safeguard health regulation, access, and democratic decision‑making from corporate pressure. The statement calls on policymakers to explore alternative models to incentivise medical research and development that delink innovation rewards from high prices, including market entry rewards, innovation inducement prizes, and more transparent, collaborative pricing and procurement schemes.