Reuters
[Source: Reuters]
AstraZeneca (AZN.L), opens new tab CEO Pascal Soriot looked relaxed standing in the Oval Office on Friday as U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled a medicine deal that will lower drug prices for millions of Americans.
The hard work had paid off, allowing Soriot to clinch the first agreement for a non-U.S. drugmaker and shield his Anglo-Swedish company from threatened steep tariffs on imports to the U.S. – the world’s largest pharmaceuticals market.
That moment at the White House was the culmination of public and private meetings between Soriot and Trump officials, stretching back to November last year when Trump won election, three sources close to the negotiations told Reuters. And it went down to the wire with a last-minute push from AstraZeneca to seal the agreement.
“You’ve kept me up at night and my team as well. But it’s been really worth it,” Soriot joked to Trump.
The agreement will likely bolster the 66-year-old French-born Australian’s reputation as something of a Trump whisperer, even as many CEOs globally grapple with the president’s whipsaw tariff changes.
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