2025 Top 100 Importers & Exporters
Japan, like most of the world, still faces a 10 % baseline tariff and 25 % tariffs on steel and aluminum and cars and automotive parts. Goods imported from China face a combined tariff of 145 %.
The import duties— and fears of further tariff escalation— threaten to short-circuit forecasts for higher electronics sales in 2025, if consumers decide the higher retail prices aren’ t worth paying.
“ Consumers remain very price sensitive, something that will be further amplified by uncertainty surrounding potential trade and economic disruptions,” Paul Gagnon, vice president and technology industry advisor for research company Circana, formerly known as IRI, said in a statement earlier this year.
Containerized electronics imports increased 1.3 % year over year in the first three months of 2025 after shooting up 9.4 % to an all-time high of nearly 1.8 million TEUs for the full year in 2024, according to PIERS, a sister product of the Journal of Commerce within S & P Global.
‘ Refresh wave’ coming
In January, Circana and the NPD Group forecast an additional $ 1.8 billion in spending on electronics, a 1.6 % year-over-year gain. Computers, portable audio devices and televisions were expected to contribute 70 % of the increase.
Much of the increase will benefit from a“ refresh wave,” Circana said, as consumers replace older electronics with more powerful personal computers and larger screen TVs.
Since January, consumers have become even more price sensitive. Surveys of consumer confidence and expectations have dropped significantly, alarming economists. That refresh wave could be shallower than expected.
Even so, US consumers show no sign they’ re sated with electronic gadgetry, especially the computers, tablets and smartphones embedded in daily life. New products and features such as artificial intelligence capabilities may convince them to spend more.
The US is considering a tariff on products containing semiconductors, chips used in everything from car engines to smartphones. Shutterstock. com
But the upper limits of their discretionary spending remain to be tested, especially when a video game console is priced at $ 500.
Despite tariffs and the threat of tariffs, China remains the largest single source of US electronics imports.
China even increased its share of US electronics imports in 2024, pushing it up 0.5 percentage points to 45.47 %, according to data from PIERS. That figure is down substantially from 56.2 % in 2019, a sign of longterm decoupling from the US market.
“ Consumers remain very price sensitive, something that will be further amplified by uncertainty.”
Electronics imports climb yoy in 17 of 19 months through March
Containerized US electronics imports, in laden TEUs, with year-over-year change
TEU volume
239,365 50 %
200,000 |
40 % |
30 % |
150,000 |
100,000 |
100
20 %
|
100,000 |
10 % |
50,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
0 % |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
-10% |
|
Apr
L
|
Jul |
Oct |
Jan 2024 |
Apr |
Jul |
Oct
Nov,
Jan 2024 2025
|
Apr |
TEU Year-over-year % change
Source: PIERS, S & P Global © 2025 S & P Global
Year-over-year % change
Vietnam’ s share of the US electronics market also increased 0.5 percentage points to 15.77 %; back in 2019, Vietnam had a 7.19 % share.
The next largest source of US electronics imports, Thailand, increased its market share last year to 6.65 % from 6.2 % in 2023, according to the PIERS data. South Korea and Malaysia, the next largest players, saw their market share shrink slightly to 5.49 % and 3.34 %, respectively.
The rest of the world, including Japan, saw their US market share in electronics slip to 22.3 % in 2024 after rising to 22.5 % in 2023, losing some share to China and Vietnam.
Those figures could change in 2025 as high tariffs on Chinese products that aren’ t excluded discourage the shipment and purchase of cheaper electronics. Some of these goods, however, may be cheap enough that even tariffs won’ t deter their sale.
email: bill. cassidy @ spglobal. com
38 Journal of Commerce | May 5, 2025 www. joc. com