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K-Beauty brands are preparing for the possibility of an increased US tariff.
At the beginning of this month, US President Donald Trump started in America’s trading partners about their new rates as part of his tariff regime. First, Japan and South Korea were mentioned, which will be exposed to 25 percent of the nationwide tasks from August 1st.
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These changes have bound to influence the South Korean beauty exports – which has long since occurred in the USA thanks to the free trade agreement in Korea, which was closed in 2012 in 2012.
“The tariffs would increase the costs of the goods, which will lead to higher prices for US consumers and contribute significantly to inflation,” said David Chung, founder and Chief Executive Officer from the contract manufacturer Ilabs, and Morae packaging that produces in South Korea. “The recovery of these new costs would not only be extremely difficult for the beauty industry, but also for the broader economy.”
In recent years, K-Beauty has experienced a blessing again in the United States
Brands such as Beauty of Joson, Tirtir, Medicube, Anua and Mixan have risen on Tikok on virality when a new generation of consumers discovered the attraction of Korean skin care and the make -up. Thanks to its SPFS viral range, the beauty of Joson’s turnover of $ 31 million in 2020 increased to more than 100 million US dollars in 2023, co -founder Sumin Lee previously told the WWD. This month the brand will give its Sephora debut.
Many other next-generation K-Beauty brands will also break into the US retail: Ulta Beauty announced last week that 13 new brands in this category will be lending this summer into the category, including FweE, Tirtir, Kaja, Rome & ND and more. Even in Tikok Shop, K-Beauty dominates, with Medicube ranking the number two brand brand on the platform in the platform in May and achieving $ 4.1 million in the period of Char.io.
And although the appetite of the US consumer on K-beauty is partially due to the general affordability of the category, there is a risk of increased tariffs to influence this accessibility.
“Our main concern is how much prices are increased and how we can support our customers in this effect. Our last choice is the increase in prices,” said Winnie Zhong, co -founder of the Asian beauty dealer Senti, who is based in New York, who operates locations in Williamsburg and Chinatown.
In addition, she added that Senti Senti is an import business that has to predict even more inventory, which can be difficult given the storage space and rental costs in New York City.
