作者： root

What’s next for Trump’s aluminum smelter project in Oklahoma

2026-09-18T10:04:08.96Z / reuters.com

Sept 18 (Reuters) – US President Donald Trump’s goal of building a large aluminum smelter in Oklahoma passed a major hurdle in late August when Republican voters nominated a ​candidate for governor who supports its construction after an unusually tough primary battle.

The project must now overcome significant opposition in the small rural community of ‌Inola, where many residents are working to block plans by Emirates Global Aluminium and Century Aluminum

(CENX.O)
to build the $4 billion smelter.

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A moratorium on smelter permits — which Inola officials imposed in June — was set to expire on September 28, but the city council voted unanimously on September 14 to extend it through April 2027 and to hold a referendum on whether it should be built.

City officials had supported the project for ​years before turning against it earlier this year.

Aluminum is essential to transportation, defense, aerospace and electrical infrastructure, but the US imports roughly 60% of the primary aluminum ​it uses.

Here’s a look at what’s next for the project, which would be the Western Hemisphere’s largest source of the critical mineral and ⁠the first aluminum smelter built in the US since 1980.

WHY IS THE SMELTER AN ISSUE IN THE GOVERNOR’S RACE?

The proposed smelter, which would produce 750,000 metric tons per year ​of aluminum, emerged as a key issue in the contentious race for Oklahoma governor.

Gentner Drummond, the state’s attorney general who ran for the Republican nomination for governor, opposes the project over ​environmental concerns and filed a lawsuit in June in state court seeking to block it.

Drummond’s opponent, former state Senator Mike Mazzei, had opposed the project until the day Trump endorsed him in May.

Neither Drummond nor Mazzei garnered 50% of the vote in a June primary. That forced an August 25 runoff that Mazzei won by less than a percentage point, roughly 2,000 votes.

Days ahead of the runoff, Trump said in ​a

social media post
that there were “20 other sites that would love to have” the smelter if it were not built in Oklahoma.

WHAT IS THE STATUS OF DRUMMOND’S LAWSUIT?

EGA and ​Century Aluminum tried to move Drummond’s lawsuit to federal court, citing aluminum’s importance to US national security.

The US Justice Department commented in support of the project and against the lawsuit, saying it is “committed to ‌supporting military ⁠readiness and opposing litigation that subverts environmental regulatory processes established by Congress.”

Earlier this month, though, a federal judge granted Drummond’s request to have the suit remain in state court, where the case is continuing.

WHAT DO LOCAL OFFICIALS SAY ABOUT THE PROJECT?

The Inola City Council voted in June for the moratorium after a contentious public hearing in which some residents suggested the smelter should be built at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private Florida members’ club.

That moratorium was extended earlier this week through April 7, 2027, when a referendum will be held on whether the smelter ​should be built.

The council has jurisdiction because ​the smelter is being developed in Port ⁠of Inola industrial park, which was created after the Tulsa-Rogers County Port Authority bought more than 2,000 acres (809 hectares) at the site in 2019.

Term-limited Governor Kevin Stitt said the industrial park could be moved outside city limits if the Inola council continues to oppose the smelter. ​That would remove the smelter from the council’s jurisdiction.

“The port authority has chosen to be in the city limits, and they ​can choose to leave,” Stitt ⁠told Reuters.

It is not immediately clear how Stitt could achieve that goal as state law requires local approval for such a move. City officials did not respond to requests for comment.

WHAT ARE THE COMPANIES SAYING?

Abu Dhabi-based EGA and Chicago-based Century Aluminum said they were disappointed by the moratorium extension and think putting the smelter up for a referendum is premature given the court case.

“Moving ⁠forward with ​a vote before the appeals process undermines basic due process and exposes Inola taxpayers to significant financial and ​legal risk,” the companies said in a statement.

Both companies said this month in a regulatory filing they now plan to reduce fluoride emissions from the proposed smelter by 37%. They also said they plan to release an ​economic impact study within weeks.

“Community trust, transparency and responsible development remain central to our approach,” said Ziad Fares, a developer on the project’s engineering team.

Trump-linked ‘pop-up’ PACs blitz Ohio with ads against Brown in costly Senate race

2026-09-18T10:04:31.721Z / Reuters

By Dawn Kopecki

September 18, 2026 10:04 AM UTC Updated 36 mins ago

[1/2]U.S. Senator Jon Husted (R-OH) speaks during the Republican National Midterm Convention in Dallas, Texas, U.S., September 9, 2026. REUTERS/Jessica Koscielniak

• No Going Back PAC buys $6.7 million in Ohio advertising
• Brown outraises Husted $38.6 million to $14.3 million, FEC records show
• Ohio race ad spending reaches $298 million, AdImpact says

NEW YORK, Sept 18 (Reuters) – Republican groups have poured $14 million into advertising in Ohio over the past week to ​bolster Senator Jon Husted, as recent polls show the Republican trailing Democrat Sherrod Brown in a race that could ‌help determine control of the US Senate.

The spending surge is driven by super PACs linked to President Donald Trump, billionaire Elon Musk, the Koch political network and Senate Republican leadership ahead of the November 3 special election. The winner will serve out the remaining two years of the term vacated by ​JD Vance when he became vice president in 2025.

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AdImpact, a political advertising tracking firm, said the Husted-Brown contest has attracted $298 ​million in advertising spending so far, more than any other Senate race this cycle, and could become ⁠the costliest advertising battle of the 2026 midterms.

Despite an early lead in polling, Husted now trails Brown by 3 to 5 ​percentage points in the most recent surveys. Brown, who served three terms in the US Senate until 2025, has also significantly outraised Husted, bringing ​in $38.6 million compared with the Republican’s $14.3 million, according to Federal Election Commission records.

The race is crucial for both Republicans and Democrats because, while Ohio has leaned Republican in recent federal elections, it remains fiercely contested in statewide races.

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The Senate Leadership Fund and five other Republican-aligned super PACs, which can raise unlimited ​sums of money, accounted for the $14 million advertising blitz over the past week, Federal Election Commission filings through Wednesday showed.

No Going ​Back PAC, a group closely tied to Trump’s MAGA Inc. super PAC, has led the advertising drive with $6.7 million on television, digital and mail ads ‌over ⁠September 10-11, according to FEC data. It has spent more than $92 million on midterm advertising, including $13.4 million in Ohio, according to AdImpact.

Ads from that group as well as Musk’s America PAC and Americans for Prosperity Action, backed by Koch Inc., attacked Brown over issues such as his positions on transgender rights and bank bailouts and sought to portray him as aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America.

A spokesperson for ​Husted declined to comment. Brown’s campaign ​manager Patrick Eisenhauer said it ⁠was “no surprise that giant corporations and billionaires are spending tens of millions of dollars to save Jon Husted’s flailing campaign.”

The Republican super PACs have tripled their weekly spending against Brown in Ohio in recent weeks.

‘POP-UP’ ​PACS

Some of the newest spenders may not disclose their donors until shortly before Election Day but ​have links to ⁠Trump supporters. Research Director Brendan Glavin of OpenSecrets, a nonprofit that tracks campaign finance, described them as “pop-up” PACs that, because of their recent registration dates, will not have to identify donors until mid-October.

Two such groups, Ohio Flyer PAC and Buckeyes PAC, spent more than $3 million combined over ⁠the past ​week. Both share a treasurer with a pro-Trump super PAC in the 2016 ​campaign founded by then-campaign manager Paul Manafort and billionaire Republican donor Tom Barrack.

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The US Senate race between Brown and Republican Bernie Moreno in 2024 set a record ​for non-presidential contests with $486 million in advertising spending, according to AdImpact.

Reporting by Dawn Kopecki in New York; Editing by Michael Learmonth and Cynthia Osterman

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Congress has failed to regulate AI for years – and there’s little sign that’s changing

2026-09-18T08:00:29.300Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/18/politics/congress-ai-inaction

In December 2024, a bipartisan congressional task force studying the possible perils of artificial intelligence issued 85 recommendations for how lawmakers could act on the issue. GOP Rep. Jay Obernolte, a key figure on the task force, asked Republican leaders to go even further, establishing a special committee to draft legislation.

But almost two years later, there are no real laws to rein in the rapid advancement of AI, and the Trump administration has made clear it has no appetite for regulation. Obernolte told CNN he couldn’t even get his special committee approved by GOP leaders, who a source said felt the task force had accomplished what it set out to do and that existing committees could work from its recommendations.

“I think the need for action is urgent,” Obernolte said in an interview. “We have been saying this for the last year and a half.”

The episode is emblematic of how AI has vexed US lawmakers, the complicated nature of the issue colliding head on with the intense partisanship and convoluted bureaucracy of Congress. Multiple bipartisan bills have been introduced, including a proposal to require the most powerful AI companies develop a kill switch for their technology and legislation to establish safeguards for all AI models.

Many proposals have never even made it to the floor for a vote, waylaid in a morass of committees. Lawmakers openly talk about how some of their older colleagues don’t understand the technology – and express open skepticism about their ability to effectively legislate it.

“If people put all of their hopes in government and Congress to solve the problems in the world, I think that they will be woefully disappointed,” GOP Rep. Eric Burlison, who served on the now-disbanded AI task force, told CNN.

The issue of AI has once again risen to the center of public debate in recent weeks, with whistleblower and AI executives raising alarm bills and pleading for regulation, while President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and others warn that slowing down development of the technology will only serve to benefit China in what effectively amounts to an arms race.

Earlier this week, members of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology met with representatives of Hugging Face, Anthropic, Open AI and other third party auditors to brief lawmakers, leaders of the committee said. The representatives were asked if they need oversight or if they can self-police, and they said they were committed to instituting guardrails but they couldn’t trust that everyone in the industry would do the same, according to two sources in the meeting.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune has called for “a light touch approach.” Democrats generally prefer a more aggressive posture.

“I am worried about the most powerful technology in the history of our world, of humanity, being on a collision course with congressional dysfunction,” Democratic Rep. Lori Trahan, who has been working on AI legislation with Obernolte for over a year, told CNN.

Since the 2024 task force report, Congress has taken only steps around the margins of AI. A senior GOP leadership aide said they did not proceed with a special committee because the broad view among leadership was that the task force had accomplished what it set out to do and the standing committees that already have AI jurisdiction had the recommendations from the task force to consider.

Last year, Trump signed into law a bill that made it illegal to share online nonconsensual, explicit images — real or computer-generated — that also required tech platforms to remove such images within 48 hours of being notified about them. On Wednesday, the House overwhelmingly passed a bill to limit the rising cost of utility bills linked to the rapid expansion of data centers that power AI.

But more substantive bills have gone nowhere. The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology passed 10 AI-related bills out of committee in June that still have not been brought to the floor. Lawmakers in both parties – including Thune, Democratic Rep. Amy Klobuchar, GOP Sen. Josh Hawley and Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal – have put forward proposals. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who caucuses with Democrats, has stridently warned in recent days about the dangers of AI. But there is no agreed-upon leader or expert on the issue in Capitol Hill.

“Tell me what congressman is going to educate every other congressman on what Anthropic does. Give me a break. Half the Congress is 70 years old. They don’t even know how to turn on their cell phone without help from staff,” GOP Rep. Rich McCormick of Georgia, who served on the task force with Obernolte, told CNN.

Trump has long touted the benefits of AI, but other Republicans had been wary of over-regulation before he took office. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise told members of the task force in 2024 that he was not interested in seeing heavy regulations stifling AI, according to a source familiar with the discussion. Scalise said publicly at the time that he wanted to fill in gaps but not add burdensome regulations.

Some who favor regulation see their cause buoyed by warnings from AI industry leaders – even if they’re wary anything will happen.

“My message is like, ‘Hey, thank goodness. Welcome to the party.’ I’m glad everybody’s getting on board that this now has the national attention that it deserves,’” GOP Rep. Scott Franklin, a former member of the task force and co-sponsor on a number of pieces of AI legislation, told CNN. “But this is something we’ve been working on legislatively for a long time trying to get the attention to have these issues looked at.”

GOP Rep. Kat Cammack was even more pointed.

“We certainly have the capability to do it. I don’t know if the political will is there,” she told CNN. “I think the political will doesn’t exist because you have members that don’t really understand it.”

But others say their skepticism remains – including of the unusual calls from the AI industry for congressional intervention.

“I’m not bailing you out,” McCormick told CNN. “Why am I responsible for you being safe? That’s good business. Being safe is good business. You put the guardrails on yourself.”

Democrats, meanwhile, have intensified their calls for regulation in recent weeks, particularly after former President Barack Obama called on his party to prioritize the issue. After the task force concluded its work in 2024, the top Democrat in the House, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, created his own commission. The party has generally sought to frame the issue as one of the everyman vs. the elites.

“I think that for far too long, big tech and money in politics have driven agendas in Congress that have crippled our ability to meet the moment on every urgent issue facing the country. So, we can’t rely on AI companies to lead the way on this, to regulate themselves. This is the role of the federal government. And it is absolutely essential that we rise to meet this moment,” Democratic Rep. Brittany Pettersen said.

Democrats, too, suggest the issue of regulation is not as complicated as some of their GOP colleagues suggest. Competitiveness with China is an issue, but what good is competition in a world run by AI? Sure, some lawmakers are aging – but lawmakers have never had to be subject matter experts for every bill they support.

“If you took that standard, then Congress could never regulate airplanes or medicine or energy,” said Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu, who was the top Democrat on the bipartisan task force and has continued the work in the minority even without a GOP counterpart. “There’s all sorts of regulations that are common sense that Congress can pass and should pass and doesn’t require anyone being a computer science major to understand what these bills do.”

A bipartisan group of members have called on Johnson to keep the House in session so lawmakers can work on negotiating AI reforms. That’s not happening: Johnson decided instead to send the House home a day early, not to return until after the November midterms.

But some say it’s not reason to give up. Democratic Rep. Don Beyer, one of the lawmakers calling on Johnson to keep the House in session, found himself consoling two of his constituents earlier this week who have a fourth-grade daughter and are worried there will not be a future for her if the threats of AI come true.

“I said to them: I think there is still time.”

https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/16/politics/video/capitol-hill-lawmakers-ai-congress-vrtc

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法国政界又一极右翼人士参加明年总统选举

2026年9月18日 16:36 / 联合早报

泽穆尔是法国极右翼再征服党党魁，他主张停止接收移民，并支持遣返外国人。 （法新社档案照片）

法国又一名极右翼政治人物宣布参加2027年总统选举，并誓言打击移民，驱逐失业的外国人。

法新社报道，“再征服党”党魁泽穆尔（Eric Zemmour）星期五（9月18日）告诉法国媒体，他将参加明年的总统选举。

泽穆尔主张停止接收移民，并支持遣返外国人。

“所有有犯罪记录的外国人都必须遣返，哪怕没有在狱中服刑。我们也必须遣返无证移民，以及长期失业和所有完全依靠福利救济生活的外国人。”

泽穆尔预计会与法国极具影响力的极右翼领袖勒庞展开角逐。近几周的民意调查显示，勒庞料在总统选举首轮投票中领先。

Record US diesel prices squeeze farmers; food prices may rise

2026-09-18 10:06:02 / Reuters

WASHINGTON, Sept 18 (Reuters) – In northeast Missouri, Addie Yoder, a corn, soybean and cattle farmer, runs two combines, three semi-trucks and several tractors from mid-September to late October to harvest and transport her crops.

With diesel ​prices at record highs and just one combine requiring 300 gallons of the fuel, the best she can do is try to curb other expenses, she said.

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In southeast South ‌Dakota, Drew Peterson, a soybean, corn and cattle farmer, expects to spend as much as $1,500 per day to fuel just one of his combines this season, double last year’s costs, among the many machines he must use to bring in his crop.

“You can’t just say, well, diesel is expensive, I’m not going to harvest,” he said. “You’ve just got to make it work in your budget.”

Across the U.S., farmers are confronting record-high diesel prices during the height of harvest season, further squeezing already ​thin margins. Price hikes seem inevitable at America’s grocery stores ahead of November’s midterm elections, where cost of living is expected to be a primary voter concern.

Global fuel supplies have been squeezed ​by the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries. The average U.S. diesel price hit a new record this week, $6.29 per gallon, up 68% from $3.74 ⁠a year ago, according to Energy Information Administration data.

Higher diesel prices raise costs in every step of the food supply chain, from harvesting on farms to freight delivery that carries food to grocery stores, ​said David Ortega, an economist at Michigan State University.

“The majority of our food moves on trucks and those trucks use diesel,” Ortega said.

Consumer food prices rose 2.7% year-on-year in August, according to the latest Consumer Price Index.

FUEL PRICES ​DOUBLING

Farmers have access to off-road diesel, which is not subject to state and federal taxes. But even with the discount, many farmers are still paying significantly more for fuel than last year.

Wayne Gularte, who grows a variety of vegetables on roughly 600 acres near Gonzales, California, said his fuel costs have risen about 40%, from roughly $5 a gallon to $7 a gallon.

To save on costs, he has put some older gasoline-powered tractors from the 1950s back into service and parked one ​of the farm’s diesel pickups. “The only money we can make is the money we save,” Gularte said.

Farm fuel costs are up $11 per acre from last year for corn and $7 per acre for soybeans, according to ​Michael Langemeier, an economist at Purdue University.

Corn, soy and wheat futures all have rallied significantly since mid-August and hit multi-year highs in early September. Still, farmer margins remain thin compared to historical averages, said University of Illinois agricultural ‌economist Nick Paulson, ⁠who warned high fuel prices could raise costs next year for seed and fertilizer.

“The concern is that $6-plus per gallon diesel is going to start to put some inflationary pressures on everything else, and even to some of that better profitability potential,” he said.

Many farmers have already tightened their belts, leaving little margin to accommodate fuel price increases, said Jon Paul Driver, a hay farmer near Spokane, Washington, and second vice president of the Washington Farm Bureau.

“Any increase in fuel right now is additional debt for the farm,” Driver said.

U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, a Republican from Kansas, asked Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins in a September 11 letter to ​provide temporary relief to farmers as they “absorb substantial ​unplanned fuel costs during one of the most ⁠diesel-intensive periods of the year.”

A USDA spokesperson said the agency is “not leaving any stone unturned” on high diesel prices and pointed to a September 15 NewsMax interview in which Rollins said she would have more to announce on the topic in the coming weeks.

FOOD PRICES COULD RISE

Though fuel accounts for a small share ​of the cost of food, consumers could still see prices rise as the supply chain absorbs higher fuel costs over the coming months, Ortega said.

Those ​effects could take time to ⁠play out because retailers may attempt to absorb short-term price increases, or because freight contracts locked in at lower prices do not yet reflect fuel surcharges, Ortega said.

He added that some of the items most vulnerable to price hikes are grocery essentials like produce, dairy and meat that require fuel-intensive refrigerated trucking.

Rates to move apples and pears via refrigerated trailers out of Washington State’s Yakima Valley have hit a four-year high with the harvest season ⁠only halfway ​over, said Dean Croke, principal analyst at DAT Freight & Analytics.

The cost to transport produce out of California is up 40% to ​120% from a year ago. In some California cities, diesel prices have topped $8 per gallon, Croke said.

Independent truckers, who typically pay for fuel up front, may not be able to withstand further hikes, Croke said.

“We’re about to see diesel price-driven bankruptcies” of trucking ​firms, he said.

Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington, and Lisa Baertlein and Nichola Groom in Los Angeles; additional reporting by Tim McLaughlin in Boston and Julie Ingwersen in Chicago. Editing by Emily Schmall and David Gregorio

Swimmer killed in shark attack in front of horrified beachgoers in Australia: “I could see a pool of blood”

September 18, 2026 / 6:22 AM EDT / CBS/AP

A man was killed by a shark as he swam off a Western Australian city beach Friday while beachgoers watched in horror.

Boats and helicopters searched the ocean off Sorrento Beach in Perth’s northern suburbs after the late-morning attack, a police statement said. Police would not say whether potential remains had been found.

But police were confident the “swimmer died as a result of the attack,” the statement said.

A witness to the attack, identified only as Darrel, told Nine Network television that the victim had been swimming with a now traumatized friend.

“I was just shocked. I mean, I feel for his mate. He’s apologized and said ‘I didn’t save my mate,’” Darrel told Nine.

“I said ‘You couldn’t have done anything,’” Darrel added.

Witness Ingrid Mitchell, who swims at the beach daily, said to Nine: “How do you just watch someone be mauled to pieces in front of you, basically? It’s pretty hard.”

Witnesses reported seeing blood in the water.

“My friend said, ‘Jac, I think there’s been a shark attack,’ and I looked out to the ocean and I could see a pool of blood,” beach walker Jacqui Rapaic told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Local Ryan Rowe told The West Australian newspaper that he reached the beach soon afterward and was told by an onlooker “someone had been bitten by a shark.”

“I couldn’t believe there was that much blood (that had) come out of a human body,” Rowe said.

Authorities closed the beach to swimmers. Witnesses described the swimmer as a man in his 60s but police did not identify him further.

In a separate shark attack, a surfer sustained a serious leg injury Monday near Geraldton, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of Perth.

Deadly shark attacks in 2026

There have been at least five fatal shark attacks in Australia this year.

A 12-year-old boy died after he was bitten by a shark while swimming in Sydney Harbour in January. The attack that killed the boy was one of four recorded in the span of two days, which prompted officials to close dozens of the city’s beaches.

Three divers were also fatally mauled in separate incidents between May and June — two in Western Australia and the third in Queensland.

Also in June, a woman was mauled by a shark at one of Australia’s most popular beaches in Sydney. The woman — a schoolteacher — last month recalled swinging a “left hook” at the predator before it dragged her underwater.

Australia has averaged between two and three fatal shark attacks a year since 2000, according to the Australian Shark Incident Database, a partnership including Taronga Conservation Society Australia, Flinders University and the New South Wales state government.

The International Shark Attack File, a database of global shark attacks maintained by the University of Florida, has recorded more than 1,280 shark incidents around Australia since 1791, including more than 250 fatal incidents. Such incidents have become more common as the population has grown and activities such as surfing and scuba diving have gained popularity.

李在明誓据韩朝协议推动朝美对话及半岛终战

2026-09-18 17:34 / 联合早报

李在明说，韩国政府会从力所能及的事情着手，让朝鲜半岛重新焕发和平气息。图为李在明星期五（9月18日）在首尔总统府面见媒体。 （法新社）

韩国总统李在明说，《9月平壤共同宣言》及《九一九韩朝军事协议》是韩朝双方为建设一个无需动武的朝鲜半岛共同思考后，作出的宝贵约定，韩方将这一里程碑作为指引，推动半岛和平。

韩联社报道，韩国国会星期五（9月18日）举行《9月平壤共同宣言》暨《韩朝军事协议》签署八周年纪念仪式，李在明在助理代读的贺词中，作出上述表态。

李在明说，2018年在平昌萌发的半岛和平之风，经板门店和新加坡延续到平壤。然而，令人遗憾的是，如今韩朝对话中断，合作之门关闭，敌对和对抗长期持续，给韩国经济和国家安全带来不必要的负担。

在金正恩领导下，朝鲜如今已在宪法和劳动党党章中将韩国明确定义为“最敌对国家”。平壤也多次试射导弹，并强烈批评韩国与美国的军事合作。

李在明指出，与八年前相比，朝鲜的核武能力进一步升级，外部环境也并非有利于韩国，但首尔方面会从力所能及的事情着手，让半岛重新焕发和平气息。

李在明也提到美国特朗普政府近期展现出与朝重启对话的迹象，并称韩方将竭尽全力，使这一努力促成朝美对话，从而引导各方对半岛终战及和平体制进行讨论。

US plans Medicaid most-favored-nation pricing for some drugs in all states, Semafor reports

2026-09-18 9:51 AM UTC / Reuters

U.S. dollar banknote and medicines are seen in this illustration taken, June 27, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

Companies

Eli Lilly and Company
Novo Nordisk A/S
Pfizer Inc.

Sept 18 (Reuters) – The Donald Trump administration is set ​to announce on Friday that all 50 states ‌would see most-favored-nation pricing for certain drugs in Medicaid programs, Semafor reported, citing administration plans.

President Trump will host the governors of ​South Dakota, Mississippi and Arkansas in the Oval ​Office “to tout work on lower drug prices,” Semafor said.

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Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

The White ​House and US Department of Health and Human Services did ​not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The US pays more for prescription drugs than any other country, often nearly ​thrice as much as other developed nations. Trump has ​repeatedly said he wants to narrow this gap.

His administration signed deals ‌with ⁠17 of the largest global drugmakers, including Pfizer, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, starting last year.

The companies agreed to offer lower prices, comparable to what is paid ​in other developed ​countries — referred ⁠to as “most-favored-nation” pricing.

Medicaid, funded jointly by state and federal governments, already draws steep discounts ​from drugmakers, mandated by existing law. Most ​people ⁠covered by the health program for low-income Americans pay little out of pocket for prescriptions.

Last month, the administration announced ⁠a ​new round of drug-pricing agreements with international ​pharmaceutical companies and some smaller biotechs.

Reporting by Anusha Shah and Sriparna ​Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Toby Chopra and Joyjeet Das