WASHINGTON (AP) — On Monday, President Donald Trump signed an important order. It gives drug companies 30 days to lower the price of prescription drugs in the U.S. on their own. If they don't, they could face new rules later about what the government will pay.

The order tells the health department, led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to try and agree on new drug prices in the next month. If they don't make deals, Kennedy will make a new rule. This rule will connect the price the US pays for drugs to the lower prices paid in other countries.

Trump said on Monday morning that everyone would pay the same, comparing it to what people pay in Europe.

It's not clear what effect the Republican president's order will have on millions of Americans who have private health insurance.

Trump talked about possible savings on medicine costs, soon after the Republican-controlled House showed its plan to reduce $880 billion from Medicaid.

The group that represents American drug companies quickly disagreed with Trump's decision, saying it was not good for patients in the US. Drug companies have often said that if their profits are threatened, it could affect their research to create new medicines.

Stephen J. Ubl, the head of PhRMA, said that using prices from other countries would be bad for American patients and workers. He also said it would mean fewer treatments and cures, and it would put the large investments their companies plan to make in America at risk.

Trump's idea to pay lower prices for some drugs through Medicare has caused disagreement since he first proposed it.

The limited government order had problems because a court stopped the rule from starting under President Joe Biden. Drug companies said that Trump's attempt in 2020 would give other countries an advantage in deciding how much medicines should cost in the U.S.

On Monday, in a long speech at the White House, Trump often supported drug companies and said other countries were responsible for the high cost of medicines in America.

However, he warned the companies that he would start federal investigations into what they were doing and allow more imported medicines from other countries to come into the U.S.

"The companies that make medicines earn most of their money in America," Trump stated. "That is not right."

Over the weekend, Trump talked a lot about the announcement, claiming online that his plan could save "TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS."

However, on Monday, the White House did not say exactly how much money they think they could save.

Oz said on Monday that top people from the health department will meet with drug company bosses in the next month. They will suggest new drug prices that are similar to what other countries pay.

Rachel Sachs, a health law expert, said Americans probably won't see lower drug prices quickly because of the order.

It seems the plan is to ask drug companies to lower their prices, but we don't know how much, Sachs said. If they don't lower their prices enough, the government will do other things over a long time. Some of these things might lower drug prices later.

The government department for health has the most power to change the cost of medicines for certain government health plans because it can create rules. But its power to do this is limited. In 2022, a new law was passed that lets one of these plans negotiate the price it pays for a few prescription drugs starting in 2026. Before this law, the plan paid whatever the drug companies asked. Drug companies sued to stop the law, but they lost.

It is more difficult for the agency to control the cost of medicines for millions of Americans who have private health insurance.

Compared to other big, rich countries, the U.S. usually spends more money on drugs than other nations. Both main political parties have been upset about this for a long time, but Congress has never agreed on a way to fix it permanently.

When Trump started his first time as president, he said that drug companies were doing very bad things, like "getting away with murder". He also complained that other countries, where the government controls drug prices, were using Americans unfairly.

Before the announcement, Trump criticized drug companies again on social media. He said they used to claim that Americans alone paid for research and development costs.

He said the money drug companies give to political campaigns is very effective, but it doesn't work on him or the Republican Party.

"We will do what is right," he wrote.

Several drug companies did well on the stock market on Monday morning. For example, Merck, a company that earned $64.2 billion last year with its cancer medicine Keytruda, increased by 3.9%. The large drug company Pfizer, which made $63.6 billion in 2024, went up by 2.5%, and Gilead Sciences increased by 5.8%.