Chinese TV Imports Trended Higher in Weeks After Tariffs Proposed, Census Data Shows
TV imports to the U.S. turned sharply more China-centric in the weeks after the Trump administration announced its proposed List 4 Section 301 tariffs on finished sets from China among the roughly $300 billion worth of goods not previously dutied, an analysis of Census Bureau trade statistics found. Observers will debate whether importers’ rush to beat the threatened tariffs played a role in the steep influx of China-sourced TVs arriving in the U.S. during June.
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Threat turned to reality when the administration placed TVs on the list of goods facing near-immediate 10 percent tariff exposure Sept. 1 while deferring to Dec. 15 duties on other consumer tech products. Had the 10 percent tariff been in effect on the 9.28 million finished TVs sourced from China in 2019's first half, it would have added $20.43 to the cost of the average set, according to Census import figures accessed Aug. 19 through the International Trade Commission’s DataWeb tool. The U.S. imported 2.93 million TVs from all countries in June, an increase of only 0.4 percent from May, DataWeb said. June TV imports from China, by comparison, jumped nearly 8 percent from May, to 1.47 million sets, it said.
Other trends that popped out from DataWeb: (1) Chinese sets were 50.1 percent of all TV imports to the U.S. in June, a 3.4 percentage-point increase from May and the first time they passed the 50 percent threshold since February; (2) June TV shipments from Mexico fell 7.9 percent from May to 1.33 million sets and were 45.3 percent of all TV unit imports, down from 49.4 percent share in May; (3) June TV imports to the U.S. from Thailand, though only 4.4 percent of the total, soared 19.9 percent sequentially from May to 128,500 units.
All such trends contributed to a TV import base that took a significant turn toward the low end in June compared with May. The average customs value of TV imports from all countries declined 5 percent in June from May, to $304.86. The average Mexican set increased 0.7 percent in value to $438.24, but Mexico’s share of total dollar TV imports fell to 65.2 percent from 70 percent in May with the 7.9 percent sequential unit decline.
The average set imported from China in June declined 5.4 percent in value compared with May, to $199.24. Despite the nearly 8 percent sequential rise in unit volume, TV dollar value of imports from China increased only 1.9 percent, to $292.9 million. There also was a significant skew toward cheaper TVs from Thailand in the month. The average set fell 30 percent in value in June from May, to $116.10, causing TV dollar imports from Thailand to decline 16.1 percent sequentially to $14.9 million, even as unit imports from there increased nearly 20 percent.