Chances are appliance shoppers will soon be digging even deeper into their pockets to pay for that new refrigerator, AC or microwave now that President Trump’s latest round of import tariffs have been imposed on China.
According to the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM), the trade group representing majap makers, the new $200 billion in duties include dozens of imported parts, components and finished goods that will significantly raise vendors’ costs and compel them to pass the increases along to consumers.
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Affected items include refrigerators, freezers and their parts; ACs; dehumidifiers; range hoods and their parts; microwave oven parts; wine chillers; countertop ovens; and floor care products and their parts, AHAM said.
The newest tariffs, which go into effect today, compound the impact of prior sanctions on imported aluminum and steel, the trade association said, and pull consumers’ homes into the middle of an international trade dispute.
See: Retailers, Vendors Decry Trump Metal Tariffs
“We support the administration’s goal of addressing China’s policies and practices related to intellectual property and innovation,” said AHAM regulatory affairs VP Jennifer Cleary. “But we continue to believe that these tariffs will not effectively do that and will instead increase consumer costs and divert company resources away from innovating and bringing new features to their customers.”
The most immediate impact on manufacturers is uncertainty, AHAM communications and marketing VP Jill Notini told TWICE in an email. “These announcements have caused a shifting of resources internally, which takes away from time that could be spent innovating and bringing products to market,” she said.
Adding to the uncertainty: Today’s 10 percent tariff rate will increase to 25 percent on Jan. 1, prompting retaliatory tariffs from China and, conceivably, an expanded list of majap targets from Trump, AHAM said.
