Chinese smartphone exports to US drop to 2011 low
Chinese smartphone exports to the United States have reached their lowest level since 2011. In April, Chinese shipments of Apple Inc.’s iPhone and other mobile devices to the US plummeted to their lowest levels since 2011, highlighting the impact of US tariffs on the exchange of high-value goods between the two largest economies globally.
Exports of smartphones experienced a significant decline of 72 per cent, totaling just under $700 million last month. This downturn markedly exceeded the overall 21 per cent decrease in Chinese shipments to the US, as revealed by detailed customs data released on Tuesday. The situation underscores how the tariffs implemented by the Trump administration, which reached as high as 145 percent on Chinese imports, are causing significant disruptions in technology supply chains and redirecting electronics to alternative markets.
Concerns among investors are mounting regarding a potential global trade war, which could undermine the substantial US-China bilateral trade that amounted to $690 billion in 2024, thereby jeopardizing various industries and inflating consumer prices. Tensions continue to be elevated: Beijing this week criticized the Trump administration for jeopardizing recent trade discussions in Geneva by implementing sanctions on Huawei Technologies Co.’s artificial intelligence chips.
In the previous year, the primary imports from China to the United States included smartphones, laptops, and lithium-ion batteries. Conversely, notable exports from the US to China comprised liquid petroleum gas, oil, soybeans, gas turbines, and machinery for semiconductor production. The value of phone component exports to India, which hosts Apple’s largest iPhone production base outside of China, has approximately quadrupled over the past year, as reported by China’s General Administration of Customs.
Apple has intensified its transition of production to India, although Trump has recently condemned this approach and called on Apple to relocate iPhone manufacturing back to the United States. The device has not been manufactured in the US, a venture that seems impractical, at least in the near term.
