President Trump on Monday signed an executive order asking drugmakers to voluntarily reduce the prices of key medicines in the United States.

But the order cites no obvious legal authority to mandate lower prices. The order said the administration would consider taking regulatory actions or importing drugs from other countries in the future if drugmakers do not comply.

It was something of a win for the pharmaceutical industry, which had been bracing for a policy that would be much more damaging to its interests.

Last week, Mr. Trump hyped a coming announcement that was “as big as it gets.” And on Sunday evening, he teed up the order in a Truth Social post, writing that he would link U.S. drug prices to those in peer countries under a “most favored nation” pricing model — a policy he attempted unsuccessfully in his first term for a small set of drugs in Medicare.

His executive order on Monday does not do that. Pharmaceutical stocks rose Monday on the news.

Mr. Trump’s executive order came just hours after House Republicans offered an expansive set of health care policy changes that would cut around $700 billion from Medicaid and the Obamacare marketplaces over a decade and would cause an estimated 8.6 million Americans to become uninsured. Congress declined to include any provisions to directly limit drug prices in that package.

The executive order also called on federal agencies to investigate why European countries get lower prices and to push them to pay more. The Trump administration has limited leverage to drive up prices in Europe.

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