The Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) is ‘encouraged’ by President Trump’s decision to tap the brakes and place a 90-day ‘pause’, for most countries, on the imposition of tariffs that sent shockwaves through global stock markets following their announcement last week.
In a short statement, AdvaMed president and CEO Scott Whitaker said: “This is an important decision that restores some short-term certainty to global markets, including the American medtech industry, which is number one globally.
“Moving forward, we will spend the next 90 days working with the president and his senior team to ensure the unique role of the medtech industry is protected, with the hope that the ultimate outcome is ‘zero for zero’ tariffs on medtech with all key trading partners.”
The Trump administration’s plans for the imposition of tariffs means that countries such as the UK and Saudi Arabia were set to face ‘baseline’ tariffs of 10% from 5 April. Tariffs for other regions, which the US president has called the ‘worst offenders’, including the European Union (EU) as a collective, Japan, and China were due to face tariff rises of 20%, 24%, and 54% (including earlier tariffs) starting on 9 April ahead of the decision for a 90-day pause.
However, China is not part of the newly declared pause, with Trump stating on 9 April that the country will now face tariffs of 125%, a rise from 104% mooted earlier in the day, due to its refusal to back down from the 34% retaliatory tariffs introduced at the start of this week. China has since replied in kind to Trump’s tariff increases, electing to impose reciprocal tariffs of 84% on US goods entering China.
The impact of the uncertainty caused by the tariffs is already being felt in the medical device industry. This month, portable oxygen concentrator developer Belluscura said that given many of its equipment and manufacturing provisions reside or originate in China, it was withdrawing its previous market guidance for the current year ending 31 December 2025. Following the announcement, Belluscura’s stock dropped by almost 50% to £0.65 per share.
Why Trump decided to pause the tariffs, despite how bullishly he has defended them in the last week, even going so far as to call them a “very beautiful thing”, remains an open question.
Not long after markets opened on 9 April, the president wrote on his social media platform Truth Social that “this is a great time to buy!!! DJT”, drawing accusations of insider trading or market manipulation from some observers.
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