Trump mocks ‘rich people’ and ‘so-called allies’ as he signs orders to lower drug prices

President targets seniors' medication costs as Joe Biden leads among older voters

Donald Trump has signed four executive orders designed to lower drug prices as he mocked “rich people” and “so-called allies” he accused of benefitting from inflated medicine costs.

“A lot of rich people ... aren’t going to be so rich,” the president said during a Friday afternoon event.

He said some company executives and “middle men” would not be “so happy with me” after the directives took effect.

Mr Trump has long said drugmakers are taking advantage of Americans who need prescription medication, especially older Americans. At the start of the event, he said the four orders were particularly crafted to help seniors.

Notably, he has lost support from older voters. That bloc now says they would prefer former vice president Joe Biden to take over as president in January. For once, Mr Trump spoke in public without mentioning Mr Biden by name, but he did take a shot at the Obama administration, of which his general election foe was a top member.

He accused the Obama administration of doing nothing to lower drug prices.

But private companies and the Obama team were not the only ones Mr Trump blamed for the high cost of drugs.

“They call them allies. I call them so-called allies,” he said of some of America’s partners around the globe.

The president said he was signing the orders because Congress has not acted on his request for legislation on the matter.

“We are putting patients over lobbyists, senior citizens before special interests, and we’re putting America first,” Mr Trump said before signing the documents with a large black felt pen.

He vaguely said he soon will roll out “bills” on immigration and healthcare. But he has several times in the last few days mentioned that executive actions are planned on those controversial topics.