Waves after waves of tariffs that are to be implemented in the coming months as part of the escalating U.S.-China trade war will have consumers paying to as much as $1.6 billion to $3.2 billion annually for nearly 380 tech products starting 2019.
Additional tariffs of 10 to 25 percent on China imposed by the Trump administration would hike prices of the most in-demand personal electronics and similar gadgets to as much as 8.5 to 22 percent according to the estimates by the U.S. trade group Consumer Technology Association or CTA. The price hike could happen on all connected devices regardless of whether they were manufactured in the United States or in China.
CTA released its estimates on Aug. 18, days before a 25 percent tariff on $16 billion of Chinese goods takes effect on Aug. 23.
The tech products that can be hit by rounds of tariffs include smartwatches, broadband modems, Bluetooth-enabled gadgets which include wireless headphones, fitness trackers, and smart speakers. Servers, desktops, printed circuit assemblies, e-readers, routers, and gateways are all included. For one, consumers may soon buy a single fitness tracker or a smart speaker at an additional cost of $4 to $8 on its original price.
In July, President Donald Trump imposed his first rounds of tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese products. Another $16 billion worth are set to take effect by next week. The president is also considering more tariffs on as much as $500 billion in imports from China. To all these, Beijing has its own retaliatory moves.
The United States asserts that its actions are aimed at compelling China to exercise fair trade and to stop alleged illegal technology transfer and suspected breach of intellectual properties. What the administration did not realize is that its punishment has little to no impact on China, the CTA said. Instead, all these high tariffs will be passed down to the American businesses and then subsequently to the consumers.
Gary Shapiro, president, and CEO of CTA said the White House is failing at its attempt to penalize China on suspected market misconducts. Worse, tariffs are hurting the American engineers that design the intellectual properties that are significant to U.S. innovation and businesses, Shapiro said. The CEO stressed that tariffs are tax paid by Americans and high taxes damage the country's economy, workers, and consumers.
More so, the products that are being hit by U.S. tariffs are mostly products manufactured in China that are being imported by manufacturers in the United States.
Earlier this year, the CTA has also released a study showing that tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese imports, with retaliatory tariffs from Beijing, would decrease U.S. GDP by nearly $3 billion annually. The ongoing U.S.-China trade war could also see hundreds of thousands of unemployed Americans in the years to come.
