As President Donald Trump threatens to impose a 50% tariff on all goods from the European Union starting June 1, the medical device industry is warning of consequences, with medical devicemaker Siemens Healthineers and health systems bracing for cost increases and potential disruptions to patient care, The Washington Post reported May 26.
Here are four notes:
- President Trump’s proposed 50% tariff on all goods coming from the European Union would directly impact medical equipment, including advanced scanners produced by Siemens in Germany. A 10% baseline tariff on all imports is already in place after a temporary pause.
“The biggest impact is imports in the U.S. from Europe,” Jochen Schmitz, Siemens’ CFO, told the Post. In response to the tariffs, the company has already lowered the midpoint of its projected earnings per share. - Siemen” Naeotom Alpha, a photon-counting CT scanner, counts Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic, New York University and Durham, N.C.-based Duke University among the systems hoping to obtain the scanner.
Siemens, which produces the CT scanners, warned that the overall toll of the trade policy will end up falling on the patients. “We all have family, friends, certainly sick friends or family members,” said David Engelstätter, head of CT production at the company’s plant in Forcheim, Germany, told the Post. “And then you think, what a shame it would be if I were in the U.S. right now and I were denied this screening — all due to external decisions.” - A Bank of America survey of hospital CFOs found that 91% expect rising costs for medical equipment due to tariffs, with nearly half anticipating prices to increase in 2025. “It will have a negative impact on innovation, cost jobs and increase overall costs to the health care system,” Scott Whitaker, CEO at AdvaMed, said in a statement shared with the Post.
- In an annual report with shareholders, GE Healthcare echoed those concerns, warning that the U.S. tariffs on China and potential new levies would “likely result in additional costs to us.”
