MedTech Europe alerts trade tensions could endanger patient care and European medtech innovators
Posted on 17.03.2025
Brussels, 14 March 2025 – MedTech Europe calls on the European Union (EU) to safeguard patient safety, continuity of care, and the global competitiveness of the European medical technology industry, by ensuring that medical technologies – including medical devices and in vitro diagnostic medical devices – and their essential inputs such as raw materials, accessories, and spare parts, are exempt from any retaliatory tariffs.
While recognising the EU’s commitment to defending European economic interests in response to recent United States (US) trade measures, MedTech Europe deems it essential that such actions not inadvertently hinder access to life-saving medical care. From surgical procedures and emergency care to chronic disease management, uninterrupted access to medical technologies is critical for timely diagnosis, effective treatment, and patient safety. Delays or increased costs could put lives at risk, strain healthcare systems, and reduce the quality of care available to millions across Europe.
At the same time, ensuring medical technologies and their components are exempt from retaliatory tariffs is a matter of ensuring the competitiveness and attractiveness of the European medical technology industry.
The medical technology industry relies on highly complex, cross-border value chains to deliver innovative medical devices and diagnostics efficiently. Tariffs, as a regressive form of taxation, would increase production and distribution costs, delay patient access to critical innovations, and hinder the ability of domestic industries to achieve efficiencies, foster innovation, and remain globally competitive. These additional costs would ultimately burden healthcare systems and could negatively impact research and development efforts in the EU.
The European Commission’s recently-proposed list of products that could be subject to countermeasures includes several trade codes applicable to medical technologies and their essential components. At a time when other global trade developments, such as the ongoing EU International Procurement Instrument case against China, already pose potential risks to the supply of medical technologies, imposing tariffs on imports from the US would only heighten these challenges.
Moreover, with the US serving as both a key supplier and a major export market for the EU in the medical technologies field, retaliatory tariffs could trigger further countermeasures. This would create a lose-lose scenario for economies, European businesses, and, most importantly, patients in need of medical solutions.
We therefore urge policymakers on both sides of the Atlantic to prioritise patient access to care and the resilience of healthcare systems, by ensuring that medical technologies of all kinds, and their upstream supply chains, remain free from trade barriers. A balanced approach is needed to prevent escalating trade tensions while safeguarding both patient outcomes and the long-term interests of European businesses and innovation.