Shibbir Ahmed, Washington DC: President Donald Trump honored the victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the first responders who risked their lives to save others as the United States prepares to mark the 25th anniversary of the tragedy.

Trump held a remembrance ceremony Tuesday at the Ellipse outside the White House, bringing together firefighters, police officers, first responders, Gold Star families and representatives of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation.

A 21-foot steel beam recovered from the wreckage of the World Trade Center’s South Tower was displayed during the ceremony. The beam is part of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation’s “Steel Across America” initiative, which is taking pieces of the World Trade Center to communities across the country. Trump paid tribute to the nearly 3,000 people who were killed in the attacks and reaffirmed the nation’s commitment to remembering those who lost their lives.

The president also posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Welles Crowther, who helped save numerous people during the attacks and became known as the “Man in the Red Bandana.” Members of Crowther’s family accepted the nation’s highest civilian honor on his behalf.

Trump also announced that a new U.S. Coast Guard fast-response cutter would be named after Jeffrey Palazzo, a New York firefighter and Coast Guard reservist who was killed in the September 11 attacks.

The White House said Trump and Vice President JD Vance will visit sites connected to the September 11 attacks on Friday, the 25th anniversary, to honor the victims and meet with their families.

On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial airplanes. Two planes were flown into the World Trade Center towers in New York, another struck the Pentagon, and the fourth crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers attempted to regain control of the aircraft.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the attacks, which profoundly changed U.S. national security policy and shaped American foreign policy for decades. The anniversary ceremony comes as the country continues to remember the victims, first responders and ordinary Americans whose actions on that day became part of the history of the United States.

Shibbir Ahmed, WASHINGTON DC — President Donald Trump on Monday announced new agreements with nine pharmaceutical manufacturers aimed at lowering prescription drug prices for Americans, expanding his administration’s effort to tie U.S. drug prices to the lower prices paid in other developed countries.

The White House said the agreements bring the total number of pharmaceutical manufacturers participating in the administration’s Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) drug-pricing program to 26, covering about 89% of the branded-drug market.

The nine companies joining the latest agreements are Alcon, Astellas Pharma, BeOne Medicines, BridgeBio, CSL, Kyowa Kirin, Sun Pharma, Teva Pharmaceuticals and UCB.

Under the agreements, the companies will provide MFN pricing to state Medicaid programs across the United States on eligible medicines. The White House said the deals cover drugs used to treat a range of serious and chronic conditions, including hemophilia, Parkinson’s disease, macular degeneration, glaucoma, liver disease, skin conditions and cancer.

The administration’s MFN strategy seeks to align prices paid in the United States with the lowest prices paid by comparable developed nations.

$19.6 Billion U.S. Manufacturing Investment

The new agreements also include commitments to strengthen pharmaceutical manufacturing in the United States. According to the White House, the nine companies have collectively committed to invest at least $19.6 billion in U.S. manufacturing in the near term.

Several companies have additionally agreed to provide active pharmaceutical ingredients to the federal government’s Strategic Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Reserve, which is intended to strengthen domestic pharmaceutical supply chains and reduce dependence on foreign sources.

UCB, for example, will contribute 163 tons of levetiracetam, a drug used to control and prevent seizures. Sun Pharma will contribute supplies of the antibiotics clindamycin and doxycycline, while Teva will provide metronidazole and amlodipine. Astellas will contribute tacrolimus, an immunosuppressant used to help prevent organ rejection following transplants.

Administration Projects Major Savings

The White House says patients have already saved more than $700 million through TrumpRx, the administration’s prescription-drug discount platform, since its launch in February.

The administration also says more than 500,000 seniors have saved a combined $216 million since July through a program offering certain GLP-1 obesity medicines for $50 a month to seniors without coverage for those drugs.

The White House’s Council of Economic Advisers estimates that the administration’s broader MFN agreements could generate approximately $600 billion in savings over the next decade. That figure is an administration estimate rather than an independently verified projection.

Part of Trump’s Broader Drug-Pricing Push

Trump ordered his administration in May 2025 to pursue Most-Favored-Nation pricing for prescription medicines, seeking to bring U.S. prices closer to those paid in other developed countries.

The administration subsequently reached agreements with major pharmaceutical manufacturers, including Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Merck, Novartis, Sanofi and others.

Trump launched TrumpRx.gov in February 2026 as part of the administration’s effort to make lower-priced medicines available directly to American consumers through participating manufacturers and pharmacies.

Reuters reported Monday that the latest agreements include a mix of international pharmaceutical companies and smaller biotechnology firms, expanding the program beyond the large drugmakers that participated in earlier rounds.

The new agreements come as prescription-drug affordability remains a major issue for American consumers and as the Trump administration prepares for the November midterm elections.

The White House is also calling on Congress to advance what it describes as the “Great Healthcare Plan,” which the administration says would seek to lower drug prices and insurance premiums while increasing price transparency.

For Americans, the practical impact of Monday’s agreements will depend on which medicines receive the new pricing arrangements, when the lower prices take effect and how the discounts are implemented through Medicaid and participating drug programs. The White House announcement marks the latest and one of the largest expansions of Trump’s MFN drug-pricing initiative since it began in 2025.