March 18, 2026
The Honorable Jamieson Greer
Ambassador
United States Trade Representative
600 17th Street NW,
Washington, DC 20508
The Honorable George Glass
Ambassador
Embassy of Japan
2520 Massachusetts Ave NW,
Washington, DC 20008
Dear Ambassador Greer and Ambassador Glass:
On behalf of the undersigned organizations, we write to urge the Trump administration to address deeply destructive regulations and price controls on the biopharmaceutical sector during upcoming discussions with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi during her visit to Washington, D.C.
The United States and Japan share one of the world’s strongest economic and strategic partnerships, and that relationship continues to build. Economic ties between the two nations have resulted in Japan investing in new energy infrastructure, manufacturing plants, and critical mineral processing facilities. As President Trump has rightly noted, the U.S. and Japan are allies “at the strongest level” and trade between the two countries has benefited the citizens of both.
While recent Japanese investments in the U.S. are crucial to strengthening American supply chains, U.S. officials must pay close attention to the biopharmaceutical sector and how foreign regulations can hamper trade. For far too long, wealthy nations such as Japan have benefited from American medical innovation while implementing costly price controls on medications that result in higher prices on U.S. consumers.
Japan relies heavily on government price-setting policies that artificially suppress the price of innovative medicines. As a result, Japan pays roughly half as much as Americans do for new treatments—even when accounting for differences in economic output. These policies shift a disproportionate share of the cost of pharmaceutical research and development onto American patients and taxpayers, draining tens of billions of dollars from the innovation ecosystem each year and diverting resources away from job creation and biopharmaceutical development.
This regulatory and economic imbalance is not sustainable. Wealthy allied nations need to end costly price controls that stymie groundbreaking medicines and cures and increase costs on American households. Patients in those countries would also benefit, with greater access to cutting-edge cures and treatments.
As the administration strives to strengthen America’s economic partnerships, we encourage you to leverage ongoing trade negotiations to ensure that price controls do not thwart American medical innovation in global markets. These short-sighted regulatory policies harm everyone and weaken pivotal trade relationships.
Thank you for your continued leadership on this important issue.
Signed,
David Williams
President
Taxpayers Protection Alliance
Pete Sepp
President
National Taxpayers Union
Grover Norquist
President
Americans for Tax Reform
Phil Kerpen
President
American Commitment
Stephen Moore
Co-Founder
Unleash Prosperity Now
Gerard Scimeca
Chairman
Consumer Action for a Strong Economy
Karen Kerrigan
President & CEO
Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council
Anthony J. Zagotta
President
Center for American Principles
Kent Kaiser, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Trade Alliance to Promote Prosperity
James Edwards, Ph.D.
Founder and Executive Director
Conservatives for Property Rights
Daniel J. Mitchell
President
Center for Freedom and Prosperity
Dee Stewart
President
Americans for a Balanced Budget
Tom Schatz
President
Citizens Against Government Waste
Ginevra Joyce-Myers
Executive Director
Center for Innovation and Free Enterprise
Ryan Ellis
President
Center for a Free Economy
Jeffrey Mazzella
President
Center for Individual Freedom
George Landrith
President
Frontiers of Freedom
John Shelton
Vice President of Policy
Advancing American Freedom
