As Tariffs Loomed on Chinese Smartphones, US Importers Turned Toward Vietnam
U.S. smartphone importers abruptly shifted more sourcing toward Vietnam and less from China in November, the last full month before the scheduled imposition of the 15 percent List 4B Section 301 tariffs on Chinese handsets, as was evident in newly released Census Bureau import data accessed Thursday through the International Trade Commission’s DataWeb tool. The Trump administration suspended the List 4B tariffs Dec. 13, less than 48 hours before they were to take effect, after reaching a phase one trade deal with China (see 1912130042).
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China was 73.7 percent of the 21.11 million smartphones imported to the U.S. from all countries in November, said DataWeb. China’s November share declined 5.8 points sequentially from October and was down 6.7 points from its 80.4 percent share in November 2018, it said.
The U.S. imported 4.6 million smartphones from Vietnam in November, a 21.1 percent increase sequentially from October and a 65.2 percent jump from November 2018, said DataWeb. Vietnam was 21.6 percent of all November smartphone imports to the U.S., up from 16.7 percent in October and from 12.4 percent in November 2018, it said.
Vietnam was a source of commoditized smartphones compared with those from China, said DataWeb. Vietnamese smartphones were imported to the U.S. in November at an average customs value of $151.73, about 47 percent less expensive than the average Chinese import, it said.
November smartphone unit imports to the U.S. from all countries declined 6.4 percent sequentially from October and were down 5.1 percent from November 2018, said DataWeb. Total smartphone unit imports for 2019's 11 months were 196.46 million, down 1.9 percent from a year earlier, it said. The U.S. imported $50.58 billion worth of smartphones from all countries in 11 months, a 5 percent decline from 2018, said DataWeb.