6 April 2018 - Pacemakers and artificial joints. Defibrillators. Dental fillings. Birth-control pills and vaccines. All are made in China, and all could be subject to new tariffs.

Dozens of drugs and medical devices are among the Chinese products and ingredients that the Trump administration targeted for a potential 25 percent tariff in a proposal this week. The list includes some products that are in dangerously short supply, like epinephrine, used to treat allergic reactions, and others, like insulin, whose rising prices have driven public outrage in the United States.

The proposed tariffs have unsettled the medical device and supply industries, given that a growing number of products, as well as their components, are now manufactured in China. In recent years, as trade groups have noted, Chinese manufacturing of medical equipment has undergone a major shift from throwaway items like surgical gloves to more complicated products like magnetic resonance imaging scanners.

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