Trump’s ‘wrong-headed’ effort to lower drug costs amounts to price control: expert

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday instructing drug companies to reduce prices of prescription drugs or face consequences from the federal government. 

But the effort amounts to price control since it’s not limited to just government programs — and similar policy initiatives in other sectors have prompted shortages, according to Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies at the Washington-based libertarian-leaning Cato Institute think tank. 

"We have seen government price controls in housing," Cannon told Fox News Digital Monday. "We call it rent control, and it creates shortages. We have seen it when it comes to food. We call them price caps there too, and it produces shortages." 

"We see price caps after natural disasters," he continued. "We call them anti-gouging laws, and they produce shortages. And so that's what we can expect price con...