Trump Strikes Deal With Merck KGaA on Tariffs, IVF Costs

President Donald Trump announced a deal with Germany’s Merck KGaA to cut the price of its fertility medicines in exchange for relief from threatened tariffs, a step toward fulfilling his campaign promise of making IVF less expensive and more widely available in the US.

Merck will offer its complete portfolio of IVF therapies through the president’s direct-to-consumer platform, TrumpRX, and boost manufacturing in the US. The most widely used drug, Gonal-f, is currently “700% more expensive in the United States than in the rest of the world,” Trump said during a press conference in the Oval Office on Thursday.