As the offensive and defensive war between Taiwan and the United States tariffs continues to heat up, Taiwan’s biotechnology and medical industry is facing unprecedented challenges. Although in the short term, the temporary 20% tariff on Taiwan’s exports to the United States will have a limited impact, if Taiwan is forced to open up its market and lower import tariffs, it may have a huge impact on domestic industries.
The oem of health care products has raised the alarm, and the industry is worried about increased competition.
Chen Weiren, the founding chairman of the Taiwan Health Nutrition Food Association, pointed out that the proportion of health products exported by Taiwan to the United States is not high at present, and the impact will not be large in the short term. However, he is worried that in the future, under the pressure of Taiwan being required to open up its market, if tariffs on imported health products are reduced, domestic local industries will face strong competitive pressure. This will not only affect the domestic market, but may also cause Taiwanese foundries to lose orders, which will have a negative impact on the overall industrial chain.
Medical materials industry: Pass-on costs coexist with order pains
Compared to health products, up to 28% of Taiwan’s medical materials industry is sold to the United States. Li Yongchuan, chairman of the Taiwan Medical Materials Association, analyzed that although in the long run, the increased cost of tariffs has the opportunity to be passed on to customers, it will take time. During the transition period (about three to six months) for customers to adjust their orders, medical materials factories will face the pain of order shortages, which may even lead to unemployment of employees. Therefore, he called on the Government to provide ’emergency’ project subsidies to help the industry overcome difficulties and maintain stable operations.
Experts call for a review of the supply chain to turn the crisis into a turning point
Facing the long-term trend of the tariff war, Cai Zhengxian, chairman of the Taiwan Precision Medicine Industry Association, suggested that Taiwan should take this opportunity to re-examine the layout of the local supply chain. He emphasized that this trade war is not only a game between countries, but also an opportunity for Taiwan’s industrial transformation. By strengthening the resilience of the supply chain and actively seeking to become a reliable regional supply partner, Taiwan’s biotechnology and medical industry can stand firm in international competition and turn the crisis into a turning point.
