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There are so many individual coups de grace that Trump could use against the Democrats, I wouldn't be surprised if he crashes his way into one of them.
As always it's more likely that nothing will actually happen here, but it's certainly possible he'll just do some shit like this to make his life incredibly easier
Yeah this is probably some shit that was already law but they’re actually gonna start doing it.
He's basically claimed unlimited authority to issue whatever tariffs he wants at will, including tariffs against individual companies. If the courts uphold his claim of expansive tariff powers, he can do this with tariffs alone.
The drug companies are all big multinationals. For those located outside the US, regular import tariffs work. Just threaten to tariff the hell out of any foreign drug manufacturer that doesn't agree to the administration's price controls. Add a million percent tariff if need be.
For domestic companies, it's a little more difficult. But still, these are domestic companies with international operations. And exit tariffs are a thing. Congress can tax exports if it wants. And Trump could claim the same power. Any US-based drug company that didn't play ball with prices would face a million percent export tariff.
And this is just tariffs. Patent law could also be wielded to force companies to abide by price caps. And the generic licensing market could be used similarly. And there are so many national security laws that can be adopted. If certain emergencies are declared, the president can flat-out order companies to produce certain goods.
Oh, Ozempic is too expensive? Trump just declared obesity a threat to national defense, and he's ordered a hundred companies to produce Ozempic and similar drugs, at quantities 10x what would be needed to dose the entire population. The country is soon swimming in weight loss drugs and the price crashes through the floor. Your insurance company starts paying YOU to take them.