Vet visits might cost more after Trump's 10% baseline tariffs
PHOENIX - A majority of surgical equipment and medications come from overseas, not only for people, but for their pets.
President Trump's newly announced 10% baseline tariff could make your veterinary bill now cost a lot more.
Dig deeper:
FOX 10 visited Dr. Kelly’s Surgical Unit in Phoenix on April 2 and met a pup named Doug. Down the line, he's going to need to be neutered.
The question is, is his surgery going to cost more tomorrow than it did today?
Pet parents walk into the vet already dreading the cost. A lot of what you see in a veterinary surgery center will soon have a 10% tariff.
Needles, gloves, IVs, syringes.
"If it's too hard to bear, we're going to have to brace for costs, of course," said Doug Patriquin, CEO of Dr. Kelly’s Surgical Unit.
Of course, they rely on a lot of that equipment.
"Without this piece of equipment or something like it, we could not do what we're doing, and this is made in Korea," Patriquin said, pointing to a medical machine.
Right now, it’s a waiting game. Companies won’t know the extent of the damage until they have to place a restocking order.
Tariffs: Will prices increase? Expert explains
Experts predict tariffs will cause short-term price hikes, either from taxed imports or higher U.S. labor costs. FOX 10's Ellen McNamara spoke with Dr. Alexander Theisen, an economics professor at Grand Canyon University, about the issue.
"The stock that we might have is sitting back here. We've already paid for that. We haven't re-ordered some of that material to find out if it had gone up by 10% or 20% or 30%," Patriquin said.
Big picture view:
He's getting ahead of the increased costs by sourcing more domestic suppliers here in the U.S., but that’s not always an option when it comes to medications.
"The chemicals that go into the pharmaceuticals, there are not domestic suppliers for them. So those must be made in India, Malaysia or China. Although a lot of the stuff is finalized here, the pieces that go into them are made somewhere else," he explained.
At the clinic, the needles are made in the Netherlands, the latex gloves are made in Malaysia, and they're all expected to cost a lot more.
The other side:
On April 2, President Donald Trump rolled out a set of tariffs that he said would free the United States from a reliance on foreign goods.
Trump said he plans to impose "reciprocal" tariffs on duties that other countries charge on U.S. products but won't match the rates other countries have implemented.
"In other words, they charge us, we charge them. We charge them less. So how can anybody be upset?" Trump said.
The president announced a 10% baseline tax on imports from all countries and higher tariff rates on dozens of nations that run trade surpluses with the U.S., but this won't change the existing tariffs, the White House said.