Trump’s Proposed Tariffs on Imports from China

Millions of electronic components are already subject to existing U.S. tariffs. With President-Elect Trump and his incoming administration threatening to ratchet up these trade barriers even further, is the electronic component supply chain in for major shockwaves?

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Trump’s Proposed Tariffs on Imports from China

What We Know Right Now

On November 25, President-Elect Donald Trump announced his plans to implement a raft of new tariffs during his first days in office as part of an America-first agenda. Based on the ample evidence provided by his first administration, it’s clear that Trump isn’t afraid to utilize protectionist tools to seek better outcomes for the United States in a variety of arenas. His recent statements suggest his incoming administration will pursue similar avenues of advantage. This report looks at the current tariffs in place that may be impacted by these proposed changes, as well as how these changes could affect components and manufacturers.

Overview of Existing Tariff Landscape

As of January 2025, there are a wide range of existing tariffs covering many different Chinese goods. In a two-year span across 2018 and 2019, President Trump announced four sets of tariffs on China. In the first package, which went into effect in July 2018, the government levied 25% taxes on $34 billion of Chinese imports. The next month, an additional $16 billion of Chinese goods were subjected to a tariff rate of 25%. Then, in September, the administration imposed 10% tariffs on another $200 billion of Chinese goods. Finally, in August 2019, Trump announced a second round of 10% tariffs on yet another $300 billion worth of Chinese imports. 

In May 2024, the Biden administration and the U.S. Trade Representative reviewed the previous administration’s tariffs under Section 301, and decided to keep them in place. In addition, Biden levied his own increases on $18 billion worth of Chinese goods. Biden’s trade actions increased the tariff rate on steel and aluminum to 25%; the rate on semiconductors to 50%; the rate on electric vehicles to 100%; and the rate on batteries, battery components, and critical minerals to 25%. The tariff increases were scheduled to go into effect in September 2024, January 2025, and January 2026, respectively. 

Lists covering all of these active tariffs can be accessed through the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), under China Section 301. The USTR has published four different lists of tariffs, as well as a fifth document, the “four-year review,” that includes additional tariff actions carried out by the Biden administration against China. 

While the complete list of Chinese goods currently subject to U.S. tariffs is too numerous to outline here, products whose tariff rate increased between September and January alone include electric vehicles, solar cells, EV batteries, and semiconductors.

New Potential Tariffs Against China, Mexico, and Canada

Earlier this year, Trump used multiple posts on Truth Social to declare that he would use the direct power available to him through executive orders to impose tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico. 

Two posts published on the Monday before Thanksgiving outlined his plans:

  • “On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders,” Trump said.
  • “Drugs are pouring into our Country, mostly through Mexico, at levels never seen before,” Trump said. “Until such time as they stop, we will be charging China an additional 10% Tariff, above any additional Tariffs, on all of their many products coming into the United States of America.”

According to the two posts, Trump plans to impose a tariff of 25% on all products entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico. In addition, the President-Elect detailed a new 10% tariff on imports from China, “above any additional tariffs.” This presumably means that the new proposed tariff would be tacked on to existing import taxes on Chinese goods. 

Trump imposed tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese goods at various points during his first presidential term, including taxes on solar panels, washing machines, steel, and aluminum. Over the last four years, the Biden administration has continued with these punitive trade policies. In 2024 alone, President Biden enacted or increased tariffs on Chinese goods ranging from semiconductors and electric vehicles to batteries and syringes. A number of new tariff rates also went into effect on January 1, 2025. 

How Tariffs Work

In their simplest form, tariffs are taxes a federal government imposes on specific foreign goods being imported into that government’s country. Although that may sound straightforward, there has been much confusion and debate about who actually pays tariffs. The importing business is always responsible for paying the tariffs to the government of its home country. 

Because importers responsible for paying tariffs may be paying 10%, 25%, or even 50% more for a certain item or part, the finished product they sell to consumers in their home country often becomes more expensive as a result of tariffs. This is what economists mean when they say that the cost of tariffs are frequently “passed on to consumers.”

The Purpose and Strategy Behind Tariffs

Tariffs serve several key purposes. First, they function as a source of government revenue. While tariffs are not typically critical sources of income for wealthy nations like the U.S., they do play a more important role in propping up the governments of developing nations. 

Beyond their value as an additional revenue stream, tariffs are a key way for countries to safeguard their domestic industries from foreign competition. This is a major reason why Trump embraced tariffs during his first presidency, and why Biden kept many of those trade barriers in place while also implementing his own controls on strategically significant industries and materials. 

Finally, tariffs are also used to address and counteract unfair trade practices on the part of other countries, who may be engaging in illegal behavior or artificially decreasing the price of their exports to capture as many foreign markets as possible. In a White House memo announcing new tariffs in May 2024, the Biden administration explained the reasoning behind its new trade barriers. “China’s unfair trade practices concerning technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation are threatening American businesses and workers,” the memo read. “China is also flooding global markets with artificially low-priced exports.”

Who Authorizes Tariffs and How Are They Applied?

While the Constitution had long endowed Congress with the power to “regulate commerce with foreign nations,” a number of laws passed over the past century have shifted much of that authority to the executive branch. Today, the president and his or her administration are largely responsible for levying tariffs on specific countries for the reasons outlined in the previous section. 

While the president has the power to establish tariffs, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is responsible for turning the proclamation into law. This agency plays an essential role in managing international trade more broadly, as well, conducting research and carrying out investigations that often inform future tariffs and trade policies. 

Finally, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the agency on the ground at the U.S. border, enforcing tariffs and other trade barriers. CBP agents—as well as officers from other federal agencies who may be assisting the enforcement process—collect tariff payments directly from importers, facilitating trade compliance throughout the U.S. 

What Is the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS)?

According to the U.S. International Trade Commission, the Harmonized Tariff Schedule “comprises a hierarchical structure for describing all goods in trade for duty, quota, and statistical purposes.” In practice, the HTS is a large database that federal agencies draw on to determine the tariff rates of goods being imported into the U.S. 

All imports are assigned a 10-digit HTS code based on their product category, material composition, and intended function, which is then searchable in the HTS database. There are currently over 19,000 HTS codes that federal agencies use to determine the tariff rates, quotas, and other financial implications associated with imported goods. 

Total Number of Parts Impacted

A Z2Data analysis based on all the parts in our database found that 6.6 million electronic components could be impacted by the proposed tariff increases on Chinese goods. This includes over 760 total commodity types.

  • 6.6 million active electronic components 
  • 764 total commodity types 

To get a more detailed breakdown of all the electronic components that could be impacted by President-Elect Trump’s proposed tariff increases—including passives, semiconductors, and commodity types—download our full impact report. 

Know What Components Are Vulnerable to Tariffs with Z2Data 

As we transition to a new presidential administration, the level of uncertainty around trade and sanctions is extremely high. High uncertainty means greater risk for manufacturers, and businesses that want to understand their vulnerabilities need maximum visibility into their supply chains. 

At Z2Data, we help businesses see where their components are coming from with tools like part-to-site mapping, which allows companies to use bills of materials to seamlessly connect parts to manufacturers and sites all over the world. Our Sourcing Status feature in the Supply Chain Watch tool functions as another asset for managing trade compliance, giving businesses visibility into their site and country dependencies and enabling them to identify components subject to tariffs and other trade barriers. 

The Z2Data Solution

Z2Data’s integrated platform is a holistic data-driven supply chain risk management solution, bringing data intelligence for your engineering, sourcing, supply chain and compliance management, ESG strategist, and business leadership. Enabling intelligent business decisions so you can make rapid strategic decisions to manage and mitigate supply chain risk in a volatile global marketplace and build resiliency and sustainability into your operational DNA.

Our proprietary technology augmented with human and artificial Intelligence (Ai) fuels essential data, impactful analytics, and market insight in a flexible platform with built-in collaboration tools that integrates into your workflow.  

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