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President Donald Trump visited Ohio and Kentucky on Wednesday as part of what media outlets have called his affordability tour, a series of events promoting his economic policies ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
The president’s first stop was at a manufacturing facility operated by Thermo Fisher Scientific in Ohio, a major biopharmaceutical and life sciences company that supports pharmaceutical research, drug development and production.
Company officials toured Trump and his team through the plant, joined by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine. During the visit, a company representative told the president that efforts to bring manufacturing back to the United States are already expanding operations at the facility.
In May, Trump signed an executive order aimed at reducing prescription drug costs in the United States. The policy pressures foreign governments to pay more for certain medications and directs several federal agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Commerce, to pursue steps intended to lower prices.
Since then, several pharmaceutical companies have agreed to sell some medications to state Medicaid programs and through TrumpRx, a government-run online marketplace for direct-to-consumer drugs, at most-favored-nation pricing levels. The administration has also pushed companies to price new medicines at levels comparable to those in other developed countries.
“In the end, I used some very strong negotiating talent to get every single country to almost immediately approve. I threatened them with tariffs,” Trump said.
Companies that have reached agreements with the administration have been granted a grace period from tariffs through the remainder of Trump’s term if they increase manufacturing within the United States.
After leaving Ohio, President Trump traveled to Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District, where he toured a large third-party logistics warehouse and held a rally. During the event, the president brought on stage former U.S. Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein, whom he recently endorsed in the Republican primary against Rep. Thomas Massie.
President Trump began his remarks to chants of “USA,” telling the crowd he loved Kentucky and had won the state “in a landslide.”