Washington, May 24 (IANS) The US Trade Representative (USTR) has kicked off a process to collect public comments on cases of the suppression of pharmaceutical product prices below market value in foreign countries, as it seeks to stop what it calls “freeloading” on US-financed medical research.

The USTR’s efforts to collect comments by June 27 came after President Donald Trump signed an executive order earlier this month to lower the cost of prescription drugs for American citizens to match prices paid in other countries, reports Yonhap news agency.

The move spawned concerns that South Korean pharmaceutical firms could come under U.S. scrutiny, given that the USTR has taken issue with the Asian country’s pricing policies for pharmaceuticals.

“USTR invites comments from interested parties regarding any act, policy, or practice that may be unreasonable or discriminatory or that may impair United States national security and that has the effect of forcing American patients to pay for a disproportionate amount of global pharmaceutical research and development,” it said on a public docket.

In an annual report on foreign trade barriers released in March, the USTR pointed out the U.S. pharmaceutical and medical device industries’ concerns over what they describe as a lack of transparency in Korea’s pricing and reimbursement policies and a lack of substantive opportunities for stakeholder input into proposed policy changes.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has threatened to roll out 25 per cent tariffs by the end of next month on smartphones made by Apple, Samsung Electronics Co. and other companies if they are not manufactured in the United States. Trump issued the threat hours after he warned in a social media post that if iPhones are not made in the U.S., a “tariff of at least 25 percent must be paid by Apple to the U.S.”

Trump reiterated that companies manufacturing their product in the US would not face tariffs.

–IANS

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