Looming tariffs on some of the hottest gadgets among younger consumers, from vaporisers to electric scooters and “smart home” devices, threaten to drive up prices starting as soon as this week.
Analysis by Flexport, which provides supply chain and freight forwarding services, has uncovered several categories of consumer products, made in China, that will face a 25 per cent import tariff under the Trump administration’s proposed new rules.
Few have noticed that ecigarettes and vaporisers from fast-growing companies such as Juul, Pax and Blu, the vast majority of which are made in Shenzhen, have been included in the latest tariff proposals because they appear on a list of import codes vaguely entitled “other machinery”.
But young consumers are angry that products particularly popular with their generation seem to have been singled out.
“These products’ biggest customers are millennials and Gen ZYounger folks adopt tech products much faster,” she said. “This is going to affect our generation and it’s going to affect people who want to innovate on hardware products.”
Tiffany Zhong, founder and chief executive of Zebra Intelligence, a market researcher focusing on teens, said the tariffs would hurt younger Americans.
