YourVoice.Now Summary
Corporate BenefitsTransparency & AccountabilityAims at other wealthy countries' drug price rules — a new trade negotiator and a yearly public report, not lower U.S. prices
Corporate Benefits
The U.S. Trade Representative's office would gain a drug-trade negotiator with the rank of ambassador, chosen by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The job is to press wealthy countries for market access for U.S. drug makers, and to speak up for both the makers and the people who buy their products.
Once the office decides a wealthy country's drug rules fail any one of six tests, it would have 30 days to send two committees of Congress a written plan to respond. The plan may propose opening a Section 301 case, the trade law that lets the U.S. put tariffs on a country's goods, but the bill does not require that step and the plan is not made public.
Transparency & Accountability
Each year the office would post a country-by-country review on its website and send the same review to two committees of Congress. It would cover every country the World Bank counts as high income and judge whether that country's drug rules are fair, open, and market-based. The bill sets no deadline for the first one.
Every report must also say where past U.S. trade responses now stand. Because it covers any earlier report, a country the office once flagged does not quietly drop out of view after a year.
More about this bill
Nothing here would change what you pay at the pharmacy. The focus is other wealthy countries, and the prices they set for American-made medicines. A new drug-trade negotiator would join the U.S. Trade Representative's office. The President would pick the person, and the Senate would have to sign off. The job would be to press those countries to open their markets to U.S. drug makers. Which countries count comes from the World Bank's "high income" group. That is a wealth test, not a drug-policy one. About 87 countries and territories are in it today, including Canada, Japan, and most of Western Europe. China is not. Each year the office would send Congress and post online a review of each one. The review would weigh their drug rules against six tests, among them fairness, openness, and market access. Failing any single test would start a 30-day clock to send Congress a plan to respond. That plan could propose a trade case that can end in tariffs, though nothing here orders one.
Congressional Summary
Use Sovereignty To reduce Rx Act or the USTRx Act This bill establishes the role of Chief Pharmaceutical Trade Negotiator within the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). The negotiator must conduct trade negotiations, enforce trade agreements relating to U.S. pharmaceutical products, and address acts, policies, or practices of high-income countries that adversely impact the market access of U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturers. The USTR must annually compile a list of high-income countries based on official statistics of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development of the World Bank. Based on that list, the negotiator must submit a report describing (1) such countries' actions and impacts relating to the pharmaceutical trade, and (2) the current status of any responsive actions taken by the United States. The bill also requires the USTR to submit to Congress a plan to respond to certain adverse acts, policies, or practices of high-income countries that are related to the trade of pharmaceutical products.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in House
- Action Date
- 2025-07-29
- Date Added
- 2026-09-16
- Source
- Congress.gov →
Like reading a bill in plain English?
We're building an app that does this for every bill in Congress and lets you tell your reps how you want them to vote. We're a small team getting ready to launch, and we're trying to show investors that real people want this. Be one of them. Help us get it built. Leave your email and we'll tell you the moment the app is ready.