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Law360 (April 3, 2020, 6:05 PM EDT ) Personal protective equipment crucial to fighting the novel coronavirus outbreak faces global tariffs averaging 11.5%, according to a World Trade Organization analysis released Friday, with certain nations collecting duties as high as 65% on items like hand sanitizer.
The 11.5% tariff average for PPE like masks, gloves and other garments is more than twice the 4.8% average most-favored nation tariff rate for all products traded globally, the WTO reported. Other categories of medical equipment sit at lower average tariff rates, like medicines at 2.1%, medical equipment at 3.4% and supplies such as gauze, syringes and alcohol at 6.2% the WTO said.
In its report, the Geneva-based trade body relied on 2019 data to illustrate a baseline of global trade in supplies that have become "critical and in severe shortage" in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. That tranche includes nearly all PPE as well as other high-demand goods like ventilators, monitors and X-ray equipment. Those items totaled roughly $597 billion worth of global trade last year, the report said.
Governments around the globe have been grappling with how best to manage the supply chains for medical and safety equipment as the coronavirus continues to spread.
On Friday, the European Commission announced that it would waive duties on masks, testing kits, ventilators and other related equipment for a six-month period through the end of July, applying the break retroactively to Jan. 30. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the move was a means of snuffing out expected price increases as supply chains tighten during the pandemic.
"This is an emergency situation that requires extraordinary action. Our hospitals, doctors and nurses need medical equipment, such as ventilators or testing kits, to treat patients and save lives," she said in a video statement. "This is our contribution to easing the pressure on prices for medical and protective equipment and to making them more affordable."
That move came a few weeks after the European Union moved to restrict exports of that equipment, earning a rebuke from free trade supporters and public health advocates.
In the U.S., the Trump administration has offered targeted relief for certain Chinese medical and safety equipment, but has left tariffs on most of the goods coming into the market untouched. U.S. Customs and Border Protection briefly flirted with a proposal to delay tariff payments for certain imports, only to walk it back less than a week later.
--Editing by Alanna Weissman.
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