“Tariffs can hike costs for essential components, making medical devices more expensive and shortages more likely,” Dai said in an email.
Whitaker said tariffs can hold back innovation, saying research and development spending would likely be the first casualty.
Hastings said his company, which has long assembled pulse oximeters in Minnesota, may be less exposed to the effects of tariffs than others. The company gets printed circuit boards from a Minnesota company. Companies selling over-the-counter medical devices in retail settings may be more exposed, he said, as many devices arrive in the U.S. fully assembled from China.
Yet Hastings noted, “We’ll still feel it a lot.”