Six months since the US imposed tariffs on Chinese medical devices, the ongoing trade friction hasn't let up much. For years, the US has been the top importer of such devices, though most of them are low-tech and mid-range products. --So how severe is the impact on China's medical equipment exports to the US? CGTN's Li Jianhua investigates.  

Workers busy testing medical equipment to be shipped to the US. 

The trade tension doesn't seem to affect the company's manufacturing of medical devices.

China is considered a large medical device exporter, with the past year's export totals surpassing 21 billion US dollars,6 billion of it TO the US.

Most of the devices exported there are mid-range products like medical massage equipment, syringes and other disposable items, many of which are on the tariff list.

However, most Chinese exporters involved don't report a decline, mainly due to the low price of the items.

ZHAO JUN GENERAL MANAGER, INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT OF BIOBASE GROUP "The US started levying tariffs on our products in July, but we have some inventory in the US, so the price stays the same if they buy our products directly from the US. Even if they import our products now from China, our prices – with the tariffs - are still at an advantage."

The US, Europe and Japan still dominate the medical device market. The Chinese medical device industry is projected to reach over 24 billion US dollars in 2019. Some say it could hurt the US tremendously to lose the Chinese market.

GAN YIWU CHAIRMAN, BIOBASE GROUP "China will become the biggest market for medical devices by 2030. It has a large population and people all have higher standards for health, which spurs the growth of medical equipment. The dominant companies are those from the US, Europe and Japan. The trade friction has a far bigger impact on them."

Advanced medical devices made in China are catching up, such as ultrasound machines, pacemakers and artificial body parts, nearly 120 billion US dollars have been invested in this field to boost innovation.

LI JIANHUA JINAN, SHANDONG PROVINCE "China's medical exports to the US consist mainly of surgical gloves and other simple, disposable items, but new advanced products are catching up, such as MRI and CT scanners and knee implants. But the tariffs are making it hard for them to enter the US's market, and now exporters are eyeing the domestic and European markets instead. LJH, CGTN, JINAN, SHANDONG PROVINCE."