Trump admin updates: Vance meets with Zelenskyy in Rome

To carry out the president's executive order aimed at reducing prescription drug prices, the White House said it will open up negotiations with drug companies sometime next month and eventually pursue formal rulemaking if no progress is made.

The White House expects at least some voluntary offers from companies, officials said, because a big component of this plan is to help companies increase their prices in other countries.

"There will still be plenty of money for research and development purposes, but it's just the United States alone will not be bearing that cost," a White House official said on a call with reporters on Monday.

Essentially, in keeping with the president's view that the U.S. often carries the weight of other countries and gets the short end of the stick, this drug pricing policy will attempt to redistribute some of the U.S.'s prescription drug costs onto other countries.

The U.S. accounts for less than 5% of the world's population but roughly three-quarters of global pharmaceutical profits, officials said.

Domestically, the White House will direct Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to "set clear targets for price reductions across all markets in the United States," not just in government-funded Medicare programs, within the next 30 days.

"If adequate progress is not made towards these price reduction targets, the secretary of Health and Human Services will impose most favored nation pricing via rulemaking," a White House official said.

The administration was sparse on details about which drugs will be prioritized, but said it will look at the costliest medications and likely include weight loss drugs.

-ABC News' Youri Benadjaoud and Cheyenne Haslett

President Donald Trump said during his briefing Monday that his executive order addressing drug pricing will "slash the cost of prescription drugs" and "bring fairness to America."

He claimed the order will reduce drug prices in the U.S. by "60, 70, 80, 90%" and "equalize" drug prices globally.

"We're all going to pay the same, we're going to pay what Europe is going to pay," he said.

The cost cuts will "easily pay for the Golden Dome," he said, referring to the defense system over the U.S. that his administration wants to build.

During his briefing, before the president embarks on a four-day tour of the Middle East, President Donald Trump touted the agreement with China to cut reciprocal tariffs for 90 days.

"They've agreed to open China, fully open China," he said. "I think it's going to be fantastic for China. I think it's going to be fantastic for us, and I think it's going to be great for unification and peace."

Trump said the tariffs imposed after April 2 will be reduced to 10% for 90 days as negotiators work on the "largest structural issues."

"It doesn't include tariffs on cars, steel, aluminum, things such as that, or tariffs that may be imposed on pharmaceuticals," he said.

During a press briefing on Monday at the White House, President Donald Trump started by addressing the ceasefire reached between India and Pakistan over the weekend.

"We helped a lot. And we helped also with trade. I said, 'Come on, we're going to do a lot of trade with you guys. Let's stop it. Let's stop it. If you stop it, we'll do a trade. If you don't stop it, we're not going to do any trade,'" Trump said. "People have never really used trade the way I used it."

He said the two countries agreed to the ceasefire "for a lot of reasons, but trade is a big one."

"We're going to do a lot of trade with Pakistan. We're going to do a lot of trade with India. We're negotiating with India. Right now, we're going to be soon negotiating with Pakistan," he said. "We stopped the nuclear conflict. I think it would have it could have been a bad nuclear war. Millions of people could have been killed. So I'm very proud of that."