When Amrita Bhasin, 24, discovered that merchandise from South Korea is likely to be topic to a brand new tax after they entered the USA, she determined to fill up on the sheet masks from Korean manufacturers like U-Want and MediHeal she makes use of a number of occasions every week.
“I did a recent haul to stockpile,” she mentioned. “I bought 50 in bulk, which should last me a few months.”
South Korea is among the nations that hopes to safe a commerce deal earlier than the Aug. 1 date President Donald Trump set for imposing nation-specific tariffs. A not-insignificant slice of the U.S. inhabitants has pores and skin within the recreation with regards to Seoul avoiding a 25% obligation on its exports.
Asian skincare has been a booming world enterprise for greater than a decade, with customers in Europe, North and South America, and more and more the Center East, snapping up lotions, serums, and balms from South Korea, Japan, and China.
In the USA and elsewhere, Korean cosmetics, or Okay-beauty for brief, have dominated the development. A craze for all-in-one “BB creams” — a mixture of moisturizer, basis, and sunscreen — morphed right into a fascination with 10-step rituals and elements like snail mucin, heartleaf, and rice water.
Automobiles and electronics could also be South Korea’s prime exports to the U.S. by worth, however the nation shipped extra skincare and cosmetics to the U.S. than some other final yr, in keeping with information from market analysis firm Euromonitor. France, with storied magnificence manufacturers like L’Oreal and Chanel, was second, Euromonitor mentioned.
Statistics compiled by the U.S. Worldwide Commerce Fee, an unbiased federal company, present the U.S. imported $1.7 billion value of South Korean cosmetics in 2024, a 54% enhance from a yr earlier.
“Korean beauty products not only add a lot of variety and choice for Americans, they really embraced them because they were offering something different for American consumers,” Mary Beautiful, a senior fellow on the Peterson Institute for Worldwide Economics, mentioned.
Together with media choices corresponding to “Parasite” and “Squid Game,” and the recognition of Okay-pop bands like BTS, Okay-beauty has helped enhance South Korea’s profile globally, she mentioned.
“It’s all part and parcel really of the same thing,” Beautiful mentioned. “And it can’t be completely stopped by a 25% tariff, but it’s hard to see how it won’t influence how much is sold in the U.S. And I think what we’re hearing from producers is that it also really decreases the number of products they want to offer in this market.”
Senti Senti, a retailer that sells worldwide magnificence merchandise at two New York boutiques and thru an e-commerce web site, noticed a little bit of “panic buying” by prospects when Trump first imposed punitive tariffs on items from particular nations, supervisor Winnie Zhong mentioned.
The push slowed down after the president paused the brand new duties for 90 days and hasn’t picked up once more, Zhong mentioned, even with Trump saying on July 7 {that a} 25% tax on imports from Japan and South Korea would go into impact on Aug. 1.
Japan, the Philippines, and Indonesia subsequently reached agreements with the Trump administration that lowered the tariff charges their exported items confronted — in Japan’s case, from 25% to fifteen%, nonetheless greater than the present baseline of 10% tariff.
However South Korea has but to clinch an settlement, regardless of having a free commerce settlement since 2012 that allowed cosmetics and most different shopper items to enter the U.S. tax-free.
For the reason that first retailer owned by Senti Senti opened 16 years in the past, magnificence merchandise from Japan and South Korea have turn into extra of a spotlight and now account for 90% of the inventory. The enterprise hasn’t needed to cross on any tariff-related prices to prospects but, however that gained’t be attainable if the merchandise are topic to a 25% import tax, Zhong mentioned.
“I’m not really sure where the direction of K-beauty will go with the tariffs in place, because one of the things with K-beauty or Asian beauty is that it’s supposed to be accessible pricing,” she mentioned.
Devoted followers of Asian cosmetics will typically purchase direct from Asia and wait weeks for his or her packages to reach as a result of the merchandise usually value lower than they do in American shops. Moderately than stocking up on their favourite sunscreens, lip tints, and toners, some consumers are taking a pause as a result of tariff uncertainty.
Los Angeles resident Jen Chae, a content material creator with over 1.2 million YouTube subscribers, has explored Korean and Japanese magnificence merchandise and have become personally intrigued by Chinese language magnificence manufacturers during the last yr.
When the tariffs have been first introduced, Chae briefly paused ordering from websites corresponding to YesStyle.com, a buying platform owned by an e-commerce firm based mostly in Hong Kong.
She didn’t know if she must pay customs duties on the merchandise she purchased or those manufacturers despatched to her as a creator.
“I wasn’t sure if those would automatically charge the entire package with a blanket tariff cost, or if it was just on certain items,” Chae mentioned. On its web site, YesStyle says it is going to give prospects retailer credit score to reimburse them for import costs.
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At Ohlolly, a web based retailer centered on Korean merchandise, homeowners Sue Greene and Herra Namhie are taking an analogous pause.
They buy direct from South Korea and from licensed wholesalers within the U.S., and retailer their stock in a warehouse in Ontario, California. After years of no duties, a 25% import tax would create a “huge increase in costs to us,” Namhie mentioned.
She and Greene made two latest orders to replenish their inventory when the tariffs have been at 10%. However they’ve put additional restocks on maintain “because I don’t think we can handle 25%,” Namhie mentioned. They’d have to lift costs, after which consumers may go elsewhere.
The enterprise homeowners and sisters are holding out on hope that the U.S. and Korea decide on a decrease tariff or carve out exceptions for smaller ticket gadgets like magnificence merchandise. However they solely have two to 4 months of stock of their warehouse.
They are saying that in a month, they’ll must decide on what merchandise to order, what to discontinue, and what costs must enhance.
Rachel Weingarten, a former make-up artist who writes a every day magnificence publication referred to as “Hello Gorgeous!,” mentioned that whereas she’s dedicated to Okay-beauty merchandise like lip masks and toner pads, she doesn’t assume stockpiling is a sound apply.
“Maybe one or two products, but natural oils, vulnerable packaging, and expiration dates mean that your products could go rancid before you can get to them,” she mentioned.
Weingarten mentioned she’ll nonetheless purchase Korean merchandise if costs go up, however that the sweetness world is greater than one nation. “I’d still indulge in my favorites, but am always looking for great products in general,” she mentioned.
Bhasin, in Menlo Park, California, plans to maintain shopping for her face masks too, even when the worth goes up, as a result of she likes the standard of Korean masks.
“If prices will go up, I will not shift to U.S. products,” she mentioned. “For face masks, I feel there are not a ton of solid and reliable substitutes in the U.S.”
