Tariff costs for U.S. tech companies tagged at $1B amonth
U.S. technology companies would pay an additional $1billion a month or more in tariffs if President Donald Trump follows through on his threat to impose duties on additional Chinese imports next month, a trade group said.
Trump said last week that he plans to add a 10 percent tariff on essentially all remaining Chinese imports — a category of goods valued at $300 billion that includes a raft of consumer and tech products. About $250 billion in imports from China have already been hit with a 25 percent tariff.
The Consumer Technology Association said the industry paid $1.7 billion in tariffs inJune. Theadditional levies set to take effect Sept. 1would impact about $13 billion in technology imports from China that month, including mobile phones, laptops, televisions and smartwatches, the group said.
“Tariffs are taxes — and increasing costs on companies puts consumers in the middle of President Trump’s trade war,” Gary Shapiro, the group’s chief executive officer, said in a statement.
In response to the threat of new tariffs, China on Monday let the yuan depreciate— making Chinese goods more competitive for overseas buyers — and cut off purchases of U.S. agricultural products. The Trump administration escalated the trade war by formally labeling China a currency manipulator, raising the prospects of a prolonged trade battle between the world’s two-largest economies.
Total tariffs paid in June reached $6 billion, one of the highestmonthly amounts in U.S. history, according to data released by Tariffs Hurt the Heartland, a campaign by trade groups opposed to the duties. Tariffs paid on products subject to all Trump’s duties were $3.4 billion in June, up from $2.8 billion inMay, the group said.
The data, compiled from the U.S. Census Bureau, gives a first glimpse at the impact of Trump increasing the duty rate on $200 billion in Chinese goods to 25 percent from 10 percent in May, the campaign said. June was also the 11th straight month that exports of U.S. goods targeted for retaliation declinedbymore than15 percent, the group said.
“Americans are already paying record-high tariffs, and the biggest hit to consumers is still to come on Sept. 1,” Tariffs Hurt the Heartland spokesmanJonathanGold said in a statement.
Trade associations and coalitions opposed to the tariffs are repeating their calls for the U.S. and China to return to the negotiating table and finalize a trade deal. The Consumer Technology Association also called on Congress to limit the president’s authority to impose duties, which it said would reassert the role of lawmakers in trade policy.