The Megyn Kelly Show - Trump Fights Big Pharma with Drug Plan, China Tariffs Pause, American Hostage Free： AM Update 5⧸13

00:00:00.000 Good morning, everyone. I'm Megan Kelly. It's Tuesday, May 13th, 2025, and this is your AM

00:00:08.540 Update. Starting today, the United States will no longer subsidize the health care of foreign

00:00:13.380 countries. President Trump signs an executive order he says will be one of the most impactful

00:00:18.040 orders ever signed, aimed at reducing drug prices, some up to 80 percent for American consumers.

00:00:25.280 I think it's going to be fantastic for China. I think it's going to be fantastic for us.

00:00:29.420 The Trump trade team announcing a temporary deal with China, reducing reciprocal tariffs for 90

00:00:35.480 days as both sides work toward a new trade agreement. New details on the Qatari government's

00:00:41.180 lavish gift to the Trump White House come into focus as President Trump weighs in. And the last

00:00:47.240 known living American hostage released from Hamas custody. All that and more coming up in just a

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00:02:15.720 President Trump on Monday signing an executive order he called, quote, one of the most important

00:02:20.300 and impactful I have ever issued. The order is seeking to lower prescription drug prices by as much

00:02:25.980 as 80%, primarily by tying U.S. prices to those paid for the same drugs in other developed countries,

00:02:33.140 a fundamental change to how the U.S. negotiates drug prices. The U.S. has less than

00:02:38.180 5% of the world's population, yet it generates around three-quarters of global pharmaceutical

00:02:44.160 profits. Astronomically high drug prices consistently sparking bipartisan outrage among U.S. lawmakers,

00:02:51.440 even as Democrats and Republicans historically clashed over how to fix it. American consumers pay

00:02:57.700 many times over what people in other countries pay for the same drug made in the same factory.

00:03:02.520 For example, American website GoodRx.com ranges a twin pack of EpiPens from $650 to $750 without

00:03:12.460 insurance versus an online U.K. pharmacy listing the same two-pack at $112. Yahoo Finance reporting

00:03:20.780 weight loss drug Wegovi costs about $1,300 in the U.S. compared to $140 in Germany. President Trump

00:03:29.360 saying the U.S. will no longer accept the status quo. Starting today, the United States will no longer

00:03:34.980 subsidize the health care of foreign countries and will no longer tolerate profiteering and price

00:03:40.180 gouging from big pharma. But again, it was really the countries that forced big pharma to do things

00:03:46.900 that frankly, I'm not sure they really felt comfortable doing. For years, pharmaceutical and

00:03:52.020 drug companies have said that research and development costs were what they are. And for no reason

00:03:57.420 whatsoever, they had to be borne by America alone. Whatever the lowest price paid for a drug in

00:04:03.260 other developed countries, that is the price that Americans will pay. Pharma stocks actually rising

00:04:08.220 in response to the announcement as the Trump administration also assigns some of the blame

00:04:12.720 for high U.S. prices on other countries for forcing unfairly low prices in their markets,

00:04:18.700 sending the drug manufacturers to recoup costs from Americans. The president specifically naming the

00:04:24.260 EU as one of the worst offenders. Progressive news site Vox breaks down how the U.S. system works

00:04:29.900 compared to most other developed countries. In the U.K., the government buys the stock of medicine

00:04:35.040 for the country. That means they're usually able to get a lower rate, kind of like a bulk discount.

00:04:40.220 In almost every developed country besides the U.S., this is what the system looks like. Safety evaluation,

00:04:46.440 assessment of whether the country needs it, price negotiations sold to patients.

00:04:50.200 Now let's look at the system in the United States. First, the drug is evaluated for safety,

00:04:56.040 but that's it. If it's safe, they can sell it. End of story. Drugs are sold by the drug companies

00:05:01.040 to patients, usually through insurance. Regulated drug markets tend to make drugs more affordable,

00:05:06.200 but some drugs are completely unavailable. And while the U.S. has more drugs technically available,

00:05:11.580 they're often too expensive to actually afford. For decades, the prevailing logic in U.S.

00:05:16.380 health care held that high drug prices were the price of innovation. The steep costs for American

00:05:21.720 consumers were seen as an unfortunate but necessary side effect, with limited political will to change

00:05:27.560 the system until now. From the executive order, quote, drug manufacturers, rather than seeking to

00:05:33.980 equalize evident price discrimination, agree to other countries' demands for low prices and

00:05:39.200 simultaneously fight against the ability for public and private payers in the U.S. to negotiate the best

00:05:45.220 prices for patients. The inflated prices in the United States fuel global innovation, while foreign

00:05:50.980 health systems get a free ride. NIH head Dr. Jay Bhattacharya further elaborating from the Oval.

00:05:57.460 What we're going to do is make sure that those prices become much closer to equal, like a

00:06:03.160 competitive market you'd expect. You may think of it as somehow it's like it's going after drug

00:06:07.420 companies. Actually, it's helping drug companies. Because what we're also going to do with this order,

00:06:11.760 what President Trump has done with this order, is he's said to European governments, look, if you

00:06:17.860 are taking advantage of the drug companies by forcing them to charge very, very low prices,

00:06:22.500 we're going to defend American drug companies in Europe. At the same time, we're standing up for the

00:06:29.060 American consumer who's been paying far too high prices for far too long. Dr. Oz, head of Medicare and

00:06:34.760 Medicaid, comparing the strategy to President Trump's strategy with NATO. Other countries will have to pay a

00:06:40.360 little more, but the U.S. will get a long needed and deserved break. Barron's Magazine, referring to

00:06:46.060 the order as a blessing in disguise for pharma companies, saying it is, quote, fundamentally

00:06:50.880 restructuring the U.S. drug industry in a way that hurts pharmacy benefit managers. Pharmacy benefit

00:06:57.320 managers are middlemen in the prescription drug supply chain, managing which drugs are covered under

00:07:02.620 insurance, how much they cost, and what patients will pay. President Trump saying this order will provide

00:07:08.360 a workaround to those managers who are also disliked by big pharma. We're going to totally

00:07:13.340 cut out the famous middlemen. We're going to cut out the middlemen and facilitate the direct sale of

00:07:18.080 drugs at the most favored nation price directly to the American citizen. The order provides a 30-day

00:07:24.100 window for the drug companies to begin negotiating with HHS. If Secretary Kennedy does not feel adequate

00:07:29.940 progress has been made on negotiations to reduce prices within that time, the executive order says the

00:07:35.300 secretary may then simply impose something called most favored nation pricing, which means using the

00:07:41.320 regulatory process to tie U.S. prices to the lowest price paid by any major developed country. Among other

00:07:47.980 actions in the order, it directs the FDA to look into increasing drug exports from other countries and

00:07:53.920 directs the DOJ and Federal Trade Commission to crack down on anti-competitive actions forcing artificially

00:08:00.460 high prices. President Trump attempted a similar, though less expansive, executive order in his first

00:08:06.360 administration, and it was blocked by a court as a usurpation of Congress's power. We'll see if Big Pharma

00:08:12.700 files a similar legal challenge here. On Sunday, the Trump administration announcing a deal after trade

00:08:19.080 negotiations with China. Over the weekend, the U.S. team, headed by Treasury Secretary Scott Besant, meeting face-to-face

00:08:25.360 with Chinese negotiators, agreeing to a 90-day pause on the reciprocal tariffs beginning this Wednesday.

00:08:31.760 Both nations agreeing to cut tariffs by 115 percent, China lowering tariffs on U.S. goods to 10 percent,

00:08:38.940 the U.S. lowering tariffs on Chinese goods to 30 percent. That's 10 percent plus a 20 percent tariff

00:08:45.300 to message to the Chinese that we are serious about stopping the fentanyl they're sending here, 0.91

00:08:50.320 typically via Mexican cartels. Ongoing talks will focus on opening Chinese markets to American-made

00:08:57.140 goods and on cooperation in the war against fentanyl, a war the Chinese have been waging against

00:09:02.960 us. President Trump on Monday confirming that higher tariffs will remain in place for Chinese imports

00:09:08.520 in key national security sectors like cars, steel, and aluminum. Secretary Besant framing the goal this

00:09:15.280 way, open markets for U.S. exports, and bring home manufacturing for critical materials.

00:09:21.300 We do not want a generalized decoupling from China, but what we do want is a decoupling for strategic

00:09:28.800 necessities, which we were unable to obtain during COVID, and we realized that efficient supply chains

00:09:36.720 were not resilient supply chains. So we are going to create our own, protect our steel industry,

00:09:43.960 the work on critical medicines, on semiconductors. So the reciprocal tariffs have nothing to do with

00:09:51.760 the specific industry tariffs. Markets ripping in response to the announcement, the Dow Jones,

00:09:57.500 NASDAQ, and S&P 500 each shooting straight up. President Trump reacting positively to this first

00:10:04.060 phase of negotiations from the Oval. The talks in Geneva were very friendly. The relationship is very

00:10:09.720 good. We're not looking to hurt China. China was being hurt very badly. They were closing up

00:10:15.280 factories. They were having a lot of unrest. And they were very happy to be able to do something

00:10:20.840 with us. The relationship is very, very good. Because if you think about it, we opened up our country to

00:10:26.000 China. They come, we don't, I mean, they have very few restrictions. And they didn't open their country 1.00

00:10:31.460 to us. Never made sense to me. It's not fair. And they've agreed to open China, fully open China.

00:10:37.180 I think it's going to be fantastic for China. I think it's going to be fantastic for us.

00:10:41.680 China will also suspend and remove all of its non-monetary barriers. They've agreed to do that.

00:10:47.540 President Trump set to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this week.

00:10:52.120 Coming up, President Trump slams ABC's reporting on the $400 million luxury jet the Qatari government

00:10:58.360 is preparing to gift our government. And the last living American hostage is released from Hamas custody 0.88

00:11:05.060 as President Trump promises to keep working for the release of the deceased Americans still held

00:11:11.280 in Gaza.

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00:12:12.720 President Trump on Monday offering new details on plans to accept a luxury Boeing 747 dubbed a palace

00:12:19.560 in the sky from the Qatari government following backlash, including from several Republicans who say

00:12:25.640 the gift smacks of impropriety. Mr. Trump responding at a press conference yesterday.

00:12:30.480 Mr. President, what do you say to people who view that luxury jet as a personal gift to you? Why

00:12:35.820 not leave it behind? You're ABC fake news, right? It's only ABC. Well, a few of you would. Let me tell

00:12:42.240 you, you should be embarrassed asking that question. They're giving us a free jet. I could say, no,

00:12:49.000 no, no, don't give us. I want to pay you a billion or 400 million or whatever it is.

00:12:53.760 Or I could say, thank you very much. You know, there was an old golfer named Sam Snead. Did you

00:13:00.420 ever hear him? He won 82 tournaments. He was a great golfer. And he had a motto. When they give

00:13:05.280 you a putt, you say, thank you very much. You pick up your ball and you walk to the next hole. A lot of

00:13:10.800 people are stupid. They say, no, no, I insist on putting it. Then they putt it and they miss it. 1.00

00:13:15.480 And their partner gets angry at him. Have you ever been given a gift worth millions of dollars

00:13:21.540 and did not receive it? It's not a gift to me. It's a gift to the Department of Defense.

00:13:25.980 The president also clarifying that the plane will not be put to personal use after he leaves office.

00:13:31.640 Do you plan to use the plane after you leave office? No, I don't. No, it would go directly

00:13:36.900 to the library after I leave office. I wouldn't be using it, no. That could help the president's

00:13:42.580 argument that this was not a gift to him personally, even if it would eventually wind up in the Trump

00:13:48.020 presidential library, helping him to potentially avoid constitutional muster. Some critics on the

00:13:54.100 right still feel Qatar is too questionable a friend to accept a $400 million plane from.

00:14:02.040 The last known living U.S. hostage held by Hamas, Idhan Alexander, released on Monday after more than 19

00:14:08.520 months in the custody of the terrorist organization. The 21-year-old transferred from Hamas to the Red

00:14:14.200 Cross to Israeli Special Forces, where he was then brought back into Israel for medical evaluation.

00:14:20.260 Though born in Tel Aviv, Mr. Alexander was raised in New Jersey, joining the Israeli Defense Forces

00:14:25.200 straight out of high school. He was captured by Hamas at his military base during the October 7th

00:14:30.440 attack. On Sunday, the Alexander family releasing this statement, quote,

00:14:34.480 Today, on Mother's Day, we received the greatest gift imaginable, news that our beautiful son,

00:14:40.380 Idhan, is returning home after 583 days in captivity in Gaza. We express our deepest gratitude to President

00:14:47.800 Trump, Steve Witkoff, and the U.S. administration for their tireless work to make this happen.

00:14:53.620 The moment here when Mr. Alexander's mother was able to speak to her son by phone for the first time.

00:14:59.600 Oh my God, Idhan! I love you, and I'm going to see you, like, soon. Very soon.

00:15:12.640 En route home to a tearful family reunion, Idhan held up a sign on board the plane reading,

00:15:18.180 Thank you, President Trump. Speaking from the Oval, President Trump saying the U.S. will work to

00:15:23.220 recover the bodies of deceased Americans still held in Gaza.

00:15:26.700 We hope that we're going to have other hostages released, too. When I met with the hostages three

00:15:32.260 weeks ago, and I said, how many are there? They said, 59. I said, that's a lot. They said, 59.

00:15:37.800 But then they said, they followed that up by saying 59, of which 24 are living, the rest are dead.

00:15:43.120 I have a mother that calls me, but came up to me when I first met her, and she said, sir, please,

00:15:49.740 please get my son out. He's dead, but they have his body. And I asked her about that,

00:15:55.520 and it's as though he were alive. The level of wanting that body back is the same. It couldn't

00:16:03.480 be anymore, as though he were alive. So, you know, getting the bodies back is very important.

00:16:10.100 U.S. officials say the bodies of four Americans are still being held by Hamas.

00:16:14.640 President Trump is offering to meet with Mr. Alexander in Qatar later this week

00:16:18.560 during his Middle East trip, if Mr. Alexander is feeling up to it.

00:16:24.700 Peruvian fans of Robert Prevost, now better known as Pope Leo XIV, reacting like fans at a World Cup

00:16:31.920 championship as they heard their former priest's name announced as the new pontiff.

00:16:36.740 Pope Leo was bishop in the diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, from 2015 to 2023. This video of seminarians

00:16:55.120 within the diocese posted by SemiFabian24 on TikTok. Clearly, Leo left an impression.

00:17:02.060 And that'll do it for your AM update. I'm Megan Kelly. Join me back here for The Megan Kelly Show,

00:17:07.040 live on SiriusXM Triumph Channel 111 at New East, on youtube.com slash megankelly,

00:17:12.240 and on all podcast platforms. By the way, if you listened yesterday and heard my kids do the AM

00:17:18.320 update, and thank you for all the sweet feedback, and you want to hear the outtakes from that recording,

00:17:24.120 go to megankelly.com.

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The Megyn Kelly Show - May 13, 2025

Trump Fights Big Pharma with Drug Plan, China Tariffs Pause, American Hostage Free： AM Update 5⧸13

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