Why the Administration Should Be Flexible with Medtech Tariffs to Protect Patients and Innovation 

President Trump’s goal to correct longstanding trade imbalances and bring more manufacturing back to America is a worthy one, supported by the vast majority of the country. 
 
A Strategic Pause: How Tariff Flexibility Supports Americans’ Health 
 
The Baltimore Sun published my op-ed on why the U.S. medtech industry, upon which every American depends for everything from routine to lifesaving health care, deserves the same sort of flexibility when it comes to tariffs. I hope you will take a minute to check it out and to join us in spreading this important message on behalf of patients. 

Medtech Powers America, With Jobs, Innovation, and Global Leadership

Medtech is an American success story, with a presence in every state, supporting three million jobs in every aspect of medtech innovation, from research and development to manufacturing. The United States leads the world in medtech innovation and manufacturing. Our U.S.-designed and made medtech is in demand worldwide for its quality, ingenuity, and variety. 

Flexibility with Medtech Tariffs: A Humanitarian and Economic Imperative  

Exemptions from tariffs for products critical to human health applied during the last round of tariffs consideration, and those exemptions should apply again for lifesaving, life-changing medtech. The humanitarian need that was the basis for the prior exemption hasn’t changed.  

In addition, damage to a thriving U.S. medtech ecosystem could result, harming its significant economic contributions and threatening to slow down rapidly progressing innovation. In an era of transformative advancements, with AI applications in medtech proliferating, the ability to perform successful robotic surgery from thousands of miles away, a pacemaker smaller than a grain of rice to treat newborn babies with congenital heart defects, the list goes on, turning back the clock on innovation would be unfortunate for patients. 

Protecting Patient Access to Lifesaving Medical Technology

Patients deserve uninterrupted access to the technology that diagnoses disease, treats illness, improves mobility, manages diabetes, and sustains good health in countless additional ways around the clock nationwide and worldwide. Medtech saves lives, reduces hospital stays, eases pain, and restores freedom for patients to do what they love and live as they wish. Let’s not allow tariffs to unwind that progress.  

Read the op-ed here.

Scott Whitaker is president and CEO of AdvaMed, the world’s largest trade association representing medtech innovators.