Pfizer’s Drug-Price Deal With Trump Ended Months of Deadlock

Donald Trump shakes hands with Albert Bourla in the Oval Office of the White House on Sept. 30.

Photographer: Win McNamee/Getty Images

Around dinnertime on Sept. 25, President Donald Trump took to social media to announce a fresh round of tariffs on drugs. The Truth Social post seemingly came out of nowhere, rattling global markets as investors raced to understand the impact of the new levies.

The post, however, played a critical role in cementing a deal with one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, Pfizer Inc., according to senior officials from the White House and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services who requested anonymity to discuss the inner workings of the process.