President Donald Trump has repeated a claim that his administration reduced prescription drug prices by figures as high as 1,500% a claim that experts say is mathematically impossible.
Trump’s Numbers Raise Eyebrows
Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Trump said, “Well, one of the things they’re going to be talking about pretty soon are the tremendous drop in drug prices. You know, we’ve cut drug prices by 1,200, 1,300, 1,400, 1,500 percent. I don’t mean 50 percent. I mean 14-, 1,500 percent.”
He made similar remarks two days earlier in an interview with Newsmax, saying drug prices had dropped by “1,000 percent, 1,200 percent.”
What the White House Says
When asked to explain Trump’s math, White House spokesperson Kush Desai told Newsweek, “It’s an objective fact that Americans are paying exponentially more for the same exact drugs as people in other developed countries pay, and it’s an objective fact that no other Administration has done more to rectify this unfair burden for the American people.”
However, the White House fact sheet released on Thursday didn’t mention any percentage reductions. It only stated that Trump had written to 17 pharmaceutical companies, urging them to lower U.S. drug prices to match the lowest prices in other advanced economies, as outlined in his May executive order on “most favored nation” pricing.
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Basic Math Doesn’t Support Trump’s Claim
Experts quickly pointed out that Trump’s figures don’t make mathematical sense. Jeffrey Frankel, a Harvard economics professor, told Newsweek, “They are indeed mathematically impossible.” He explained that a 100% price cut would mean a drug becomes free, and a 1,000% cut would imply the drug companies pay consumers to take medication.
Frankel added, “If cutting 1,000 percent means a thing, then it means that the drug company pays you (a lot) to take the drug.” He even suggested Trump may be testing how far he can go with such exaggerated claims, saying, “It’s almost as if Trump is making fun of his supporters, seeing what increasingly absurd statements he can get away with.”
Economists Point to Sixth Grade Math
Justin Wolfers, a professor at the University of Michigan, said this issue isn’t complicated: “This is not a question for an economist, but rather a sixth grader.” He quoted the Common Core standard 6.RP.3.c, which teaches students to calculate percentages like 30% of a quantity means 30/100 times that amount.
Wolfers said he even asked his son, Oliver, who confirmed that “the president’s math does not make sense ‘because then the prices would be negative.’” Oliver then added, “Is he an idiot?” before going back to watching YouTube.
Wolfers agreed with his son’s analysis but noted, “I encourage him to use more positive language when engaging with fellow kids.”
More Experts Agree the Math Is Flawed
Another economist, Pau Pujolas from McMaster University, illustrated the issue with a simple grocery example: “If your grocery bill is $100 and you get a 50 percent reduction, you pay $50. If you get a 100 percent reduction, you pay $0. You can’t get a reduction larger than that… so 1,200 percent doesn’t make sense.”
Pujolas also remarked that “firing Erika McEntarfer,” head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, would be a bigger concern than the president misunderstanding percentages.
Trump Repeats the Claim at July GOP Dinner
Trump made similar exaggerated promises earlier this year. At a Republican dinner in July, he declared, “This is something that nobody else can do. We’re gonna get the drug prices down—not 30 or 40 percent, which would be great, not 50 or 60 percent. No, we’re gonna get them down 1,000 percent, 600 percent, 500 percent, 1,500 percent. Numbers that are not even thought to be achievable.”
Journalist Questions Trump’s Intentions
Journalist James Surowiecki responded to Trump’s latest comments on X (formerly Twitter), saying, “It’s not just that the math here is nonsensical. It’s that Trump hasn’t actually cut drug prices yet at all. He’s literally just sent letters to drugmakers telling them to cut prices.” Surowiecki questioned whether Trump is lying knowingly or simply deluded, adding, “We have no idea.”
So far, the Trump team has not clarified what he means by claiming drug price cuts of up to 1,500 percent. The pharmaceutical companies Trump contacted now have 60 days to submit a plan for reducing U.S. drug prices to match global minimums.
