President’s Donald Trump’s trade battles with China and the rest of the world have barely touched U.S. consumers so far, but that could soon change.
The White House proposal to apply tariffs to an additional $200 billion in Chinese imports—and possibly as much as $400 billion if China retaliates—would certainly hit many consumer products, from appliances to clothing to electronics, if enacted.
When the Trump administration picked its initial target lists for tariffs against China, it was able to largely steer clear of consumer goods by focusing on products like semiconductors, plastics, machinery and other intermediate and capital goods—purchased by businesses but not directly by shoppers.
Because so many products the U.S. imports from China are consumer goods, it is likely impossible to construct a list of $200 billion in extra items for tariffs without hitting major categories of consumer goods.
The nation’s leading import from China is cellphones. In 2017 Americans bought $70.4 billion worth of them from the world’s second largest economy. Also among top U.S. imports from China are computers, at $45.5 billion, various kinds of apparel, totaling $36.4 billion, toys and sporting goods, at $26.8 billion, and furniture at $20.7 billion. Shoes and televisions are also high on the list.
If the U.S. hits Chinese products with tariffs, they could filter through the system in different ways. Chinese suppliers or U.S. retailers could absorb some of the cost, insulating consumers but hitting their own profits, or they could pass the cost on to consumers in the form of higher prices.
