United States President Donald Trump imposed 10 percent tariffs on Chinese products amounting to USD 200 billion on September 17th. The tariffs are set to come into effect from September 24 with the 10 percent level, which will be increased to 25 per cent from next year.
Seventeen categories of home appliances are involved, including refrigerators, air conditioning machines incorporating a refrigerating unit, freezers, drying machines, electric storage heating radiators, electric space heating apparatus, air conditioning machines not incorporating a refrigerating unit, vacuum cleaners, kitchen waste disposers, electric cooking appliances, hair clippers, shavers, parts of hair clippers with self-contained electric motors, parts of shavers with self-contained electric motors, parts of dishwashing machines, single-phase AC motors, and parts of vacuum cleaners. According to China’s General Administration of Customs, these 17 categories of products totaled 28.95 billion US dollars by export value in 2017, of which 6.19 billion US dollars came from exports to the US, accounting for 21.4%. Category wise, the US took a double digit share by export value for most involved home appliances.
Considering earlier added tariffs from the US on products including washing machines, water purifiers, dishwashers, and compressors, as of now, affected goods has covered almost all major appliances and parts while only a few portable appliances are left out. Based on earlier analysis from CHEAA, portable appliances will suffer most, particularly those heavily dependent on the US market, for example vacuum cleaners, while major appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines and air conditioners will not be affected much. The competitive advantages of China’s home appliance industry are still strong, and the competitiveness of major home appliances will remain unchanged.