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Donald Trump has excluded smartphones, laptops and other consumer electronics from his “reciprocal” prices, but 46 of the 50 elements that the United States is based most on China are always subject to the samples.
Analysis of the elements with a total import value of more than $ 1 billion shows the potential impact that new measures may have on American consumers.
More than three-quarters of video game consoles, food processors and electric fans imported in the United States last year were manufactured in China. Anyone who hopes to buy toys will also have to struggle with higher prices. China achieved 75% of dolls, tricycles, scooters and other wheelers delivered to American consumers from abroad last year.
Mattel, the Toymaker behind the Barbie doll, warned that it could increase American prices to compensate for the impact of the samples-and it was before Trump’s last climbing in the tariff war in Tit-For-Tat.
The company based in California, which also manufactures Hot Wheels cars and the UNO card game, said that 40% of its products had been manufactured in China.
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The Trump administration’s decision to exempt smartphones, routers, token manufacturing equipment and some computers and laptops of so -called reciprocal prices on China occurs after a week of turbulence in the US markets.
The Cup is a great victory for American technological companies such as Apple, Nvidia and Microsoft, which all saw the drop in their shares last week. Laptops and smartphones were the two highest imports from China last year, with a total value of $ 74 billion.
The exemption will be particularly well received by Apple because most of its supply chain is centered on China.
But Trump’s prices remain a concern for buyers in the hope of buying goods always subject to 125%samples. Chad Brown, a principal researcher at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said that the speed and scale of measures meant that the costs were more likely to be passed on to consumers.
Prices on China were imposed “at much higher levels, at a much higher speed and on many new consumer products” which were not affected during Trump’s first mandate, said Brown.
“There is much greater chances of significant increase in prices for consumers who buy these types of products today.”
The samples mean staying fresh during the summer months can be expensive for Americans who are not already prepared – nine out of 10 electric fans purchased abroad in the United States last year came from China, just like 40% of autonomous air conditioning units. China dominates the world export market for both.
Americans who plan to buy a new microwave will also face potential price increases; 90% of people imported into the United States last year came from China, and Beijing checked three-quarters of the world export market.
The domination of China of so much global exports means that finding alternative manufacturers will not be easy, according to the former head of the British trade department Allion Renison, now at Consultancy SEC NEWGATE.
“American and Western companies have moved their supply chains in China and other Asian countries in recent years,” she said. “But with so many raw materials and Chinese components and component parts that still arise in the products they assemble, many will depend on the rigor of these rules specific to the product and the way countries are adapted to the United States.”
She added: “The challenge consists less in finding alternative suppliers, a large part of Southeast Asia has already increased its production of industrial products, and more on the type of conditions that the United States will place on its agreements with these countries.”
The move of China’s manufacturing is particularly difficult for electronic products such as game consoles and mobile phones due to their complex supply chains and the skills necessary to manufacture them.
“The rapid decoupling will be quite difficult, in particular for goods such as smartphones, where additional capacity must be created, trained workers and alternative supply lines for established inputs,” Jason Miller, professor at the College of Business of Michigan State University.
If Apple was to reserve all its production of an India iPhone for the American market, it would still only cover half of the models of 50 million and more than the company ships each year in America, according to the analyst of Bank of America Wamsi Mohan.
Overall, four out of five of smartphones and game consoles in the United States last year were made in China. Trump has not excluded that certain American companies are exempt from reciprocal rates, but concern for buyers is that other products may not be available at all.
“The greatest concern for consumers is that importers, fearing that they cannot transmit the cost increases to consumers, interrupt imports of certain goods from China,” said Miller.
Additional report by Jonathan Vincent
