If not, I'll levy 25% tariff: Trump claims he threatened Macron demanding higher drug price in France

With the imposition of high reciprocal taxes on several countries, US administration under Donald Trump has shaken global trade. Donald Trump recently claimed that French president Emmanuel Macron was asked to increase drug prices in his country for a deal, or otherwise bear a 25 per cent tax levied on their exports to the US.

Speaking at a rally in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, on December 19, Trump recalled his conversation with "a very good man", as he credited the President of France, over a phone call.

"I spoke to a very good man, President Macron of France, and I said, 'Emmanuel, you have to raise your drug prices.' He said, 'No, no, no, we will not do that.' I said, 'You have to'," Trump said to the crowd on Friday.

Trump told the crowd that the move would bring down the prices of drugs for Americans.

According to Trump, he initially tried convincing Macron saying, "Emmanuel, you're going to do it, 100 percent. Please accept it now. Be nice. You're going to do it 100 percent," seeking to double or triple the drug price in France.

But Macron showed his disapproval of the call.

Trump claimed that he then threatened the President with a warning, "If you don't do it, I'm going to put a 25 percent tariff on everything France sells into the United States of America," to which Macron later responded saying "deal", Trump claimed.

However, the Élysée Palace reportedly dismissed the claims saying it simply “doesn’t make sense”.

On December 19, a few hours before the rally in North California, Trump announced deals with nine major pharmaceutical companies to cut drug prices, in exchange for three-year exemption from new pharmaceutical tariffs in USA.