The tariffs imposed today by the United States on its three largest trading partners could not only drive up the cost of goods for U.S. consumers, but also hit researchers by raising prices for scientific equipment.
Saying it wants to reduce trade practices it sees as unfair and stem the cross-border flow of migrants and illegal drugs, President Donald Trump’s administration imposed 25% tariffs on goods imported from Mexico and Canada, and hiked tariffs on Chinese imports from 10% to 20%. Canada and China have already announced retaliatory measures, whereas Mexico’s president said her government would announce its own response later this week.
The three countries are deeply involved in the manufacture of scientific instruments and other lab equipment, and the trade dispute is likely to raise the cost of running a lab, says Canan Gunes Corlu, a supply chain expert at Boston University’s Metropolitan College. Researchers at U.S. institutions already facing uncertainty about their federal funding could find themselves particularly squeezed, she adds. “It is another type of pressure. … This will really affect research in some areas in universities.”
The tariffs stem from the Trump administration’s America First Trade Policy, which promises “a robust and reinvigorated trade policy” and affects three countries that together accounted for some 45% of the value of goods imported into the U.S. in 2022. U.S. labs depend on manufacturers in these countries in a multitude of ways. Chinese firms make both finished products ranging from glassware to mass spectrometers as well as individual components—particularly electrical—that are assembled in equipment elsewhere. “It will probably surprise a lot of people how many of the materials used in scientific research are imported from China,” says Willy Shih, a researcher in technology and operations management at the Harvard Business School. For example, many of the LCD panels on scientific equipment are made in China, and the country is also the top exporter of nucleic acids and related compounds, he notes.
Mexico is a major supplier of plasticware such as pipette tips and provides a growing share of metal and other components for specialized lab equipment as some companies reduce their production dependence on China. “A lot of components may come from the U.S. and go to Mexico for assembly,” Shih adds. These products would face tariffs when they move back to the U.S.
Canada, meanwhile, is home to companies focused on equipment such as DNA sequencers and cell counters as well as devices used in health care and clinical research, such as MRI machines and CT scanners. The U.S. is by far Canada’s largest importer of many of these instruments, accounting for some 75%, or CA$3.08 billion, of exports in medical devices in 2022 alone.
The tariffs have thrown U.S. equipment sellers into chaos, Shih notes. “Every company I talk to, they’re scrambling.” Some will likely try to absorb the costs for now, whereas others could pass those costs down to consumers or try to shift production to the U.S. or another nation not covered by the tariffs, he says. But that could take years. “It’s not as if you can go into the office tomorrow and say: ‘OK, tomorrow I’m going to move my production … to Indonesia or Malaysia.’” Sellers may also have to consider whether their suppliers’ suppliers are based in a tariffed country, “even if the first-tier supplier is in the U.S.,” notes supply chain researcher Dale Rogers of Arizona State University.
Companies such as lab equipment supplier ARES Scientific say they are slowing down operations while they wait for more certainty. The Florida-based company has decided to pause planned personnel increases and to reduce investments in product development for now, CEO Drew Kevorkian tells Science. With research institutions already re-evaluating their expenditure in light of changes to grant funding and overhead payments for research, “we’re believing it’s going to have a significant effect on the lab equipment market.”
Some U.S. equipmentmakers will also have to contend with retaliatory actions by countries now facing tariffs. China, for example, today banned imports of genetic sequencers made by the U.S. firm Illumina. China accounts for about 7% of the company’s sales, according to Reuters. Illumina says in a statement it is evaluating the impact of the tariffs, but notes the move “does not ban Illumina from operating in China” and that the company will continue to serve customers there.
Researchers themselves might not feel the effects of the trade dispute right away, Shih and Corlu say. Many companies preemptively increased their imports at the end of last year in response to Trump’s election. Those stockpiles could allow them to avoid price rises for now—but “that’s a short-term strategy,” Corlu says.
Some scientists already took steps to soften the impacts. Tony Gamble, an evolutionary biologist at Marquette University, tells Science that after the 2024 election his team stocked up on computers and lab consumables such as pipette tips, gloves, and sample tubes. “These are all things that we would need to buy anyway but we moved up the timeline to save money,” he says. “I’m glad I did this.”
The Trump administration could ultimately exempt some products or lower the tariffs if new trade deals are struck—as occurred during Trump’s first term. Organizations such as the American Hospital Association have already asked Trump to allow exemptions for medical and pharmaceutical products that are “essential to the provision of safe, effective care in America’s hospitals, clinics, and other settings.” And it’s likely some companies providing scientific equipment will try to make the case for exemptions, too, Corlu says.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has said it is also considering imposing tariffs on European trading partners, which could cause further disruption to research labs, Shih adds. “It’s a very complicated environment.”
