Importers paid over $45b in US tariffs on China tech goods

WASHINGTON • Importers of technology products from China paid more than US$32 billion (S$45 billion) worth of tariffs imposed by former president Donald Trump between mid-2018 and the end of last year, a new trade group report has shown.

The report comes as the Biden administration continues to deliberate over whether to remove some duties.

The Consumer Technology Association said in the report released on Tuesday that the tech industry has reduced its dependence on China in the wake of the tariffs, but this has been offset by increased imports from Vietnam, Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia and other markets.

Roughly half of the US$32 billion in tariffs were paid on Chinese-produced computers and electronic products.

Section 301 tariffs paid on Chinese goods through July 13 totalled US$145.43 billion, according to Customs and Border Protection data.

The report comes as the Biden administration is trying to determine whether to remove some of the tariffs as a way to provide American consumers relief from inflation, which stayed low in the first two years that the tariffs were imposed.

Mr Ed Brzytwa, the association's vice-president of international trade, said the tariffs were hurting US businesses, not solving China trade challenges.

"With rising prices across all sectors of our economy, removing tariffs would mitigate rampant and harmful inflation and lower costs for Americans," he said.

The association's review of import trends since the tariffs were first imposed in phases in mid-2018 show that imports of Chinese technology goods hit by Section 301 tariffs fell by 39 per cent over the next 31/2 years, while those not affected grew by 35 per cent.

China's share of US imports of tech products hit by the tariffs roughly halved from 32 per cent in 2017 to 17 per cent last year, the association said.

About half of the US$32 billion in tariffs were for computers and electronic products.

The group said there was no such shift in tech products unaffected by tariffs, with China accounting for 84 per cent of US imports in these categories in both 2017 and last year.

But some imports of China-produced consumer tech goods were higher last year than in 2017 despite the tariffs, suggesting that the motivation among some companies to "leave China" had abated.

Among these were digital cameras, certain cooking appliances and vacuum cleaners, including robot vacuums.

REUTERS