Claims that prices can fall by more than 100%

What we know

Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that his policies would cut drug prices by 400%, 500%, 600%, 1000%, or even 1500%. Those figures have appeared in speeches, press events, and public defenses from allies trying to explain his arithmetic. But the underlying claim is not just exaggerated. It is mathematically impossible.

A percentage decrease is calculated by dividing the reduction by the original price. Under that standard formula, the maximum possible price cut is 100%, which means the price falls to zero. Any claimed cut greater than 100% would mean the final price becomes negative, which would imply the seller is paying the buyer to take the product.

This is easier to see with concrete examples. A drug falling from $1000 to $199 is about an 80% reduction, not a 500% or 578% reduction. A drug falling from $458 to $51 is about an 89% reduction, not an 800% reduction. The inflated figures come from reversing the direction of the calculation or confusing a required rebound increase with the original decrease.

Reporting and fact-checks across AP, CNN, PBS, and NPR have all described Trump's claims as mathematically impossible. Some government announcements about real drug policy have referenced possible reductions in the range of 50% to 60%, which is large but still within normal arithmetic. The falsehood is specifically the repeated claim that prices can be cut by several hundred percent.

When pressed by reporters and fact-checkers, some administration allies, including Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., attempted to defend the figures by claiming there is more than one valid way to calculate a percentage decrease. PBS NewsHour and other outlets consulted mathematicians and economists who rejected this defense, explaining that percentage decrease has a single standard definition in arithmetic, and that no alternative convention used in economics, statistics, or accounting allows a decrease to exceed 100% without implying a negative price. This detail matters because it shows the error was not corrected once identified, but instead defended with an invented justification.

The pattern fits a broader habit of using large, round, dramatic-sounding numbers in public remarks regardless of whether they correspond to a real calculation. Independent fact-checkers who track Trump's numerical claims across topics including trade deficits, crowd sizes, and economic statistics have repeatedly found similar mismatches between the stated figure and any verifiable underlying data, suggesting the drug-price figures are one example of a wider rhetorical pattern rather than an isolated slip. Genuine policy discussions about lowering drug prices, including several real proposals debated in Congress and referenced in White House fact sheets, use figures in the range of 30% to 60%, which remain large but mathematically possible. This distinction between hyperbole and outright mathematical impossibility is why fact-checkers rate this claim as false rather than merely exaggerated, since no reasonable interpretation of the stated percentages can be reconciled with how prices and percentage changes actually work.

Common claims

• Drug prices can be cut by 500% or more.False
• Trump reduced drug prices by 1000% or 1500%.False
• There are multiple valid ways to calculate a percentage decrease above 100%.Not supported

Evidence hierarchy

All sources

• Trump can't cut drug prices by up to 1500%AP News · 2025
• Fact check: Trump's mathematically impossible promise to cut drug pricesCNN · 2025
• Fact-checking RFK Jr.'s claim there's more than one way to calculate a percentage decreasePBS NewsHour · 2026
• Trump cites numbers a lot. Sometimes they're mathematically impossibleNPR · 2026
• Trump defends drug price claims by citing 'two ways of calculating'AP News · 2026
• Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Announces Actions to Lower Prescription Drug PricesThe White House · 2025

Related terms