By Jared S. Hopkins

President Trump's tariffs will hit pacemakers, X-ray machines and other medical devices manufactured overseas and shipped to the U.S.

Devices and diagnostic equipment are made all over the world, from China and Europe to Malaysia and Vietnam. The amount of their tariffs will depend on the country of manufacture.

Many manufacturers are well positioned to weather tariffs because patients will need to get their products, but Wells Fargo estimated companies' annual earnings per share could take a hit as much as 13.8% in the case of Bausch & Lomb.

"Big picture, we see the tariffs as a one-time negative impact to earnings or a re-basing after which companies can grow earnings again," Wells Fargo's Larry Biegelsen wrote.

Shares of Boston Scientific, Medtronic and Germany's Siemens Healthineers were down Thursday in early morning trading. Cardinal Health, which makes and distributes healthcare products such as surgical supplies, was also down, as was Masimo, which manufactures items such as pulse oximeters.

Scott Whitaker, chief executive of the medical-device industry's trade group AdvaMed, expressed disappointment.

"Historically, industries with a meaningful humanitarian mission have been exempted from broad tariffs, and as a result we have seen no to low tariffs on medtech from all key trading partners," he said.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 03, 2025 10:38 ET (14:38 GMT)

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