Department store retailer Target was able to find reprieve in the middle of the ongoing trade war between China and the United States. It was recently reported that the U.S. will exclude a handful of children's items from the final list of goods that will be slapped with the massive $200 billion worth of tariffs.
The revised list of goods included in the new set was issued by Washington late Monday. The new set of tariffs exclude more than a dozen products which are all made in China. These products are mostly aimed for children and infants. Among the products included are swings, baby walkers, bouncers, and seats. The decision to remove these products from the list was reached following weeks of hearings and petitions from companies.
Regarding the products that were not excluded from the list, the U.S. will press forward with the imposition of 10 percent tariff as soon as next week. The tariff will increase to as much as 25 percent come 2019.
Many observers believe that the trade war between China and the U.S. will tread on for a prolonged period of time, not unless mediation will eventually work and persuade the two superpowers to drop the tariffs.
Following Washington's $200 billion trade tariffs, China immediately set forth its own set of retaliatory tariffs which the country plan to levy against various U.S. goods. China's trade tariffs will amount to as much as $60 billion.
The decision to exclude baby goods from the list of affected products came after several companies decided to petition Washington's initial decision. In a report released by IBISWorld, the baby goods industry in the United States will continue to expand by as much as 1.7 percent annually up until 2022. This is due to the fact that consumer trend tends to point to an increase in terms of spending for kids.
By 2022, revenue from baby goods will reach $10.2 billion annually. Market experts believe that big-box stores and online retailers such as Amazon will try to expand their market share in order to benefit from this massive possible revenue stream.
In a letter sent to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, department store retailer Target said that the company is concerned with the proposed tariffs initially set by Washington. The company believes that these tariffs will severely hurt consumers which is why Target urged the Trump administration to reconsider.
