Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) President Thomas A. Schatz issued the following statement today in response to President Trump calling on Congress to codify Most Favored Nation (MFN) price controls.

“While CAGW supports efforts to lower the cost of drugs and improve access to care, codifying price controls through a MFN policy will be an unmitigated disaster.

“Importing price controls from socialist countries will lead to shortages, disrupt markets, slow medical innovation, threaten American jobs, fail to stop foreign freeriding on American research and development and have a disastrous effect on patients.

“MFN contradicts and undermines the administration’s efforts to move more biopharmaceutical research and development to the United States and opens the door to China to eventually take over global leadership in this field. Pharmaceutical companies will be more reluctant to invest in facilities in the U.S. if their products are subject to price controls and uncertain return on investment. China has dramatically increased its investment in research and development and production of pharmaceuticals and codifying MFN may hasten the time when China could catch up to the U.S.

“Rather than implementing price controls through codifying MFN, President Trump and his administration can reduce the cost of drugs by reducing regulations, negotiating better trade deals, encouraging free-market solutions, and getting foreign countries to pay their fair share.”

Citizens Against Government Waste is the nation's largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.

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