Commentary
For years, Americans have heard that we need to make more things here at home, rebuild our industrial base, and create jobs across the country. In one of the most important sectors of our economy, that work is already underway.
American medical technology companies have been growing for decades. They make the devices, diagnostics, implants, imaging equipment, digital tools, and surgical technologies that help doctors save lives, restore mobility, detect disease earlier, and improve quality of life for millions of patients. This is no flash in the pan. It is a durable American success story.
That success continues. Over the past year and into this one, medtech and health technology companies have announced major U.S. manufacturing expansions, including investments by Johnson & Johnson and Abbott. Those commitments mean jobs, construction, research, training, and long-term investment in communities across the country.
Washington should understand what these announcements represent. Companies do not build factories because someone gave a speech. They invest when the numbers work, the rules are clear, and the future is stable enough to justify putting billions of dollars and thousands of jobs on the line. Tax and trade policies that support investment have helped make America a place where medtech companies can build, hire, innovate, and export.
This is exactly the kind of industry America should want to lead. Medical technology supports high-skilled jobs and advanced manufacturing. It strengthens our health care system, gives doctors and nurses better tools, and gives patients more options and better outcomes. These are not luxury goods. They are part of the foundation of modern medicine.
Medtech is also an American export powerhouse. U.S. companies sell lifesaving and life-improving technologies around the world. Every export carries American research, engineering, manufacturing skill, and credibility with it. That strengthens our economy and supports workers here at home.
That is why policymakers should think carefully before imposing broad tariffs that could harm this industry. America should confront unfair trade practices, demand reciprocity from countries seeking access to our markets, and reduce dangerous dependence on adversaries for critical goods. But targeted enforcement is very different from sweeping tariffs that punish the very companies doing what America says it wants: investing, building, and hiring here while competing abroad.
Medical technology supply chains are complex because the products themselves are complex. Even a device assembled in the United States may depend on specialized materials or components that cross borders before the finished product reaches an operating room or hospital bed. A tariff on those inputs does not automatically make the final device more American. It can make the device more expensive and harder to deliver.
When medical technology becomes more expensive, someone pays. Hospitals are already under financial pressure, patients worry about the cost of care, and families feel squeezed. If tariffs raise costs or disrupt supply chains, the burden will not stop at the factory gate. It will reach providers, patients, taxpayers, and communities.
The better course is common sense: preserve tax policies that encourage investment in the United States, keep trade rules predictable enough for companies to plan major manufacturing projects, and use targeted tools against genuine abuses. Do not undermine a successful American industry in the name of helping Americans. The medtech sector is proving that innovation, manufacturing, exports, and better patient care can go hand in hand. Poorly designed tariffs could weaken one of America’s most durable industrial strengths just as companies are choosing to invest more here at home.
Disclosure: I speak from firsthand knowledge as a consultant to the medical technology industry.
Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
