Life Sciences Industry Set to Testify on Potential New Tariffs on Imports From China
Healthcare trade associations and companies will testify on May 17 about the effects of a proposed new 25 percent tariff on a wide range of imports of China goods, according to a schedule posted by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. The proposed list of tariff subheadings targets pharmaceuticals, medical devices and optical equipment, among other products. Hearings began on May 15 at the International Trade Commission.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
Witnesses from the life sciences industry include: Ralph Ives from the Advanced Medical Technology Association, Gozie Onyema of Smiths Medical, Prasad Pinnamaraju of Novast Laboratories, Choon Teo of Zhejiang Medicine, Jie Lian and Zhengzhi Wang of the Patent Protection Association, Wayne Quinn of Mindray DS UDA, and Linda Rouse O’Neill of the Health Industry Distributors Association. Several filers raised concerns in April through comments to the USTR on the potential harms related to increased prices for medicines and devices (see 1804270010).
Meanwhile, lawmakers recently circulated a draft letter to USTR Robert Lighthizer to protest the inclusion of medical devices in the proposed list. "We are concerned by the recent announcement to potentially subject almost $3 billion worth of medical technology products from China to the Section 301 tariffs, and we request that medical technology products be removed from the list," said Reps. Erik Paulsen, R-Minn., and Scott Peters, D-Calif. The medical technology industry wasn't event mentioned in the USTR's Section 301 report, said Paulsen and Peters. Including medical technology on the list could "also invite retaliation from the Chinese Government through tariffs on U.S. medical technology products, or through non-tariff barriers such as new regulatory and payment hurdles that could delay or prevent timely market access," said the Congressmen. "These actions would only benefit China’s domestic manufacturers at the expense of U.S. manufacturers."