May 14 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden's move to hike

tariffs on Chinese goods should help U.S.-based medical mask and

glove makers, a sector that has largely flamed out after surging

during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Industry executives on Tuesday said Biden's tariffs could

boost demand by helping level a price differential with cheap

imports from China, and could foster investments needed to bring

some stalled projects online, although some think the 25% duties

need to be even higher.

India-based research firm Mordor Intelligence estimates the

U.S. personal protective equipment (PPE) market is $14 billion.

The tariffs on personal protective equipment were announced

alongside ratcheted-up import levies on more than a dozen goods

categories that Biden says are key to maintaining U.S.

competitiveness in sectors critical to national security and the

transition to a green economy. Altogether, the new tariffs cover

a total of $18 billion in goods.

In the case of PPE, critical shortages for items like masks

and gloves sparked a rush to open domestic production during the

COVID pandemic. The federal government, according to a website

maintained by the Department of Health and Human Services,

funneled $1.2 billion into these efforts.

At the peak of the pandemic, at least 26 start-up mask

factories had emerged. But nearly all of them shuttered or

drastically scaled back after the flow of cheap imports from

Asia resumed.

Other projects got off the ground, but never found customers

willing to pay the price of made-in-the-U.S. alternatives.

One is United Safety Technology, which received $96.1

million from the emergency COVID funds to retrofit an old

Bethlehem Steel mill in Baltimore into a state-of-the-art

medical glove factory. The new plant today sits unfinished.

Dan Izhaky, the company's CEO, welcomed the Biden move.

Tariffs on gloves are set to rise from 7.5% to 25% in 2026,

which Izhaky said should narrow the price gap between his

product and his competitors, encouraging investors to help fund

completion of the Baltimore plant. He declined to say how much

he needs to open his factory.

Tariffs won't solve all the issues. "For gloves," he said,

"the rate should be about 50% and it should be effective

immediately, but 25% is a start."

He said he did not "understand the rationale" for the

two-year delay in implementing the tariffs. "I can only

speculate that they don't think there's enough domestic

production online just yet."

Izhaky is part of a group of PPE manufacturers that formed

to lobby for government support - the American Medical

Manufacturers Association. Other producers in this group have

also invested in factories but lack orders for gloves.

Another founder of the association is Thomas Allen, who

runs a small mask factory outside New York City that opened in

2020. He has invested about $4 million in his firm - Altor

Safety - which received some small New York State grants but no

federal funds. He said the new tariffs should help him win more

customers. Tariffs on masks are set to rise to 25% this year

from a range of 0% to 7.5%.

"I think this will trigger increased demand," he said,

adding that he can meet that easily. He currently only operates

one shift, but could increase to three, and has idle equipment

available.

Premier Inc ( PINC ), a major purchaser of medical

products for U.S. hospitals, said there is currently "an

abundance of supply" of PPE. It was not yet clear how the new

tariffs would impact the prices Premier pays for protective

gear, or whether increases would be passed on to customers, said

Soumi Saha, senior vice president of government affairs.

"If you go through the multiple elements that are

incorporated into the tariffs from a healthcare perspective, PPE

is probably the one that we are the least concerned about," she

said.