Technology has contributed considerably to healthcare with patient engagement software and remote patient monitoring software. But, tariffs proposed by President Donald Trump’s administration with regards to certain Chinese imports, could harm the cloud computing industry in the United States. It could undermine U.S. leadership in the sector and harm innovation in the healthcare sector too.

This view has been presented in a new report by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, which is a non-profit tech policy think tank.

Tariffs could stifle the development of fast evolving cloud technology, put the U.S. at a competitive disadvantage and negatively impact consumers- especially patients.

The study mentions that the U.S. economy has increasingly become dependent on cloud computing, with 93% of business nationwide. This includes hospitals and health systems that rely on some 3 million data centers. There is no doubt that innovation introduced in the cloud space is enabling huge advances in healthcare outcomes and technology offerings.

But, Trump introducing tariffs on Chinese imports would harm the components that fuel innovation and could lead to negative consequences for the industry.

Stephen Ezell, ITIF's Vice President for global innovation policy said that there are better ways to combat Chinese innovation mercantilism.