Initial Concerns Raised by Healthcare Interests in Comments on Section 301 Tariffs

Many of products on the proposed list are components used by U.S. medical technology manufacturers for "products that are competitive in a global market," the association said. Additionally, the medical technology industry was not included in the Section 301 investigation and didn't participate in the process "for reasons we will describe in our formal written submission," AdvaMed said. The new tariffs also "would leave the highly regulated medical technology industry particularly vulnerable to Chinese retaliation using tariffs and nontariff measures," it said.

Smiths Medical, a medical device manufacturer in Minneapolis, raised similar concerns in its comments. Specifically, Smiths said of significant concern are the inclusion of HTS headings 9018 (Instruments and appliances used in medical, surgical, dental or veterinary sciences) and 9019 (Mechano-therapy appliances; massage apparatus; psychological aptitude-testing apparatus). Currently imported duty-free, those headings cover needles, catheters, tracheal tubes and accessories, and respiratory therapy masks.

Smith uses "these FDA-approved components from China to provide lifesaving medical devices to patients receiving medical care in tens of thousands of hospitals," it said. "If the proposed tariff on these section 9018 and 9019 components is implemented, Smiths Medical will be compelled to seek alternative, non-Chinese suppliers. This process is both expensive and time-consuming, as it would require significant changes to our supply chain (e.g., validating new suppliers), thereby necessitating re-submissions of the impacted product regulatory approvals from FDA and potentially other global regulatory bodies."

The Patent Protection Association of China also said that Americans would suffer as a result of the "overreaching" tariffs. "The proposed scope of trade covered by the increased duty includes the pharmaceutical industry (e.g. 30022000-Vaccines for human medicine, 30042000-medicaments containing antibiotics, 30044100-medicaments containing ephedrine, and 30045010-medicaments containing vitamin B2 synthesized from aromatic or mod, etc.), which would cause undue increase of the overall healthcare expense of the American people," the association said in its filing.

Zhejiang Novus Pharmaceuticals would also like to testify on the harms that the proposed tariffs would bring, the Chinese company said in comments. "For example, Novus is currently seeking FDA approval of a new drug application for vancomycin hydrochloride for injection as a sterile powder in IV drips," the company said. "Increased tariffs on this product (and others like it), which will not be available elsewhere in the form currently being developed by Novus and is the front-line antibiotic in the prevention of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus ('MRSA') infections, would only hurt the sickest and most vulnerable Americans." Goods classified in HTS subheadings "3004.20.00, 3004.60,00 and other products under Chapters 29 and 30 should not be subject to additional tariffs," the company said.

The China Chamber of International Commerce requested to testify and said the USTR’s 215-page investigative report released March 22 as justification for the proposal of tariffs was flawed. Tariffs will hurt both the U.S. and China, it said. "As numerous interested persons have demonstrated, raising tariffs will not only hurt the U.S. importers, retailers and downstream industries, but also result in a higher cost of living for ordinary American people and put at risk millions of American jobs that are tied to trade with China." The chamber thinks "cooperation instead of confrontation is the only right way to resolve differences," it said.