Chinese Laptop Imports Spiked in June
The U.S. imported 10.8 million laptops from China in June under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule’s 8471.30.01 product code, according to Census Bureau data accessed Aug. 5 through the International Trade Commission’s DataWeb tool. That’s nearly a 38 percent spike from the 7.8 million shipped here in May and a 49.1 percent increase from the 7.2 million imported in June 2018, the data show.
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Other large tech product imports originating in China also showed unit spikes in June from May, though none nearly to the magnitude of the increases in laptops. Chinese imports of Bluetooth headphones, smart speakers, smartwatches and fitness trackers shipped to the U.S. under the HTS 8517.62.00.90 tariff code jumped 12.4 percent in the month to 10.8 million. Comparisons with May and June a year earlier aren’t possible because USTR created that special 10-digit code to exempt consumer products from List 3 when 10 percent tariffs were applied Sept. 24, 2018, on the broader categories of industrial IT goods under HTS 8517.62.00.
U.S. imports of finished TVs from China (HTS 8528.72.64) jumped 7.7 percent in June from May to 1.47 million sets. TV shipments from China were up 8.3 percent from June 2018, when imports actually declined 1.3 percent from a month earlier. It remains to be seen whether the threat of List 4 tariffs played a role in the June increases, and it’s also worth noting that imports in other categories declined in June from May. The U.S. imported 12.3 percent fewer smartphones from China in June than in May. June smartphone shipments from China also were 7.2 percent lower than in June 2018.
A 10 percent List 4 tariff would have added $41.17 in cost to the customs value of the average notebook computer imported to the U.S. from China in the second quarter. Other average cost increases: (1) smartphones, $24.13; (2) TVs, $20.89; (3) PC monitors, $14.67; (4) smartwatches and Bluetooth headphones, $12.32.