As of 5 April, a minimum of 10% tariff will apply to imported products from most countries, including the UK. For the European Union, the imposed tariff on imports into the US will be 20%, and for Switzerland it will be 31%.
The EU and Switzerland have been included in a group of 60 countries facing higher tariffs, which Trump says are “reciprocal.”
On a global scale, China has been slapped with a whopping 54% tariff, Japan: 24%, South Korea: 25%, India: 26%, Thailand: 36%, Taiwan: 32%, and the US’ closest neighbours Mexico and Canada are already facing 25% tariffs.
In a press statement this morning, the European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen has called the move a “major blow to the world economy.”
“The global economy will massively suffer,” she said. “Uncertainty will spiral and trigger the rise of further protectionism.”
The EU has not yet announced if it will take countermeasures against the US government’s decision.
12% of France’s beauty exports go to the US
In terms of the EU beauty industry, the French market perhaps has the most to lose from this move, considering was long the biggest beauty exporter to the US and has only recently been dethroned by South Korea.
According to the French trade body, the Federation of Beauty Companies (FEBEA), in 2024 €22.5bn worth of French cosmetics were exported “all over the world ” in 2024,
Emmanuel Guichard, general delegate at FEBEA has previously said that makeup and facial care were the two main categories for exports to the US from France, but that perfume was “growing very strongly.”
Guichard said that 12% of exports were sent to the US market, and that it was the second-biggest importer of French beauty products (after the European Union countries, which imports 40%).
He also said: “what is certain is that France also imports a lot from the United States, so we are in a reciprocal market. We import more from the US than we import from Germany, for example,” he explained.
The Value of Beauty Alliance – which encompasses some of Europe’s most prominent industry players – is asking the EU to have regular dialogue with the beauty and personal care industry on the premise that it adds €180bn to GDP for the EU and supports 3.2 million jobs.
According to a report from Oxford Economics, these businesses export €26bn worth of goods, making it the biggest exporter in the world in this sector.
US tariffs and the UK beauty industry
With a 10% tariff on imports into the US, some would say that the United Kingdom has been let off lightly in comparison to its neighbours.
However, the director of regulation Nico Shaw Núñez at UK cosmetics industry trade body, CTPA, has highlighted that “the supply chains that enables cosmetic and personal care products to reach consumers have become increasingly global” and that “products originating from the EU will be subject to higher rates at 20%, and products from China at 34%, for example.”
“With supply chain ties to both regions, as well as other countries, it is unclear yet how this will affect UK companies,” Núñez continued. “CTPA will be working with members to clarify matters such as these and continue to raise our industry’s challenges brought by these measures.”
Núñez said that the UK and US have always had good relations and that in 2024, the UK exported approximately £360m worth of products to the US, with imports from the US accounting for almost double at £680m.
“This made the US our biggest trading partner outside of the European Union last year, a position that has been relatively stable over time,” Núñez continued.
He added that: “the imposition of tariffs, where previously there had been none, will certainly affect this trading relationship. We cannot predict to what extent, but these tariffs will result in added cost to make UK products available to US consumers, a cost which will have to be absorbed by companies or passed onto the consumer directly.”
Meanwhile, the British Beauty Council has said it is “working closely with the Government to highlight the impact this will have on the industry and will be feeding back to the Department for Business and Trade.”
Chief policy & sustainability officer at the British Beauty Council, Victoria Brownlie MBE, said it was is “difficult to underestimate the hugely detrimental impact these new tariffs will have on the beauty industry as a sector that in some cases manufactures a large proportion of its products outside of the UK.”
She urged the UK government to “work with sectors including the beauty industry to ensure they are advocating in the best interests of British businesses,” or “the cost otherwise will be mass closures, further unemployment and a significant economic crisis.”
US tariffs and the Swiss beauty industry
The US is Switzerland’s single biggest export market, while Switzerland is the sixth-biggest foreign investor in the US. However, the country was still hit with a 31% tariff on imports into the US.
In a statement on X, the Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter said her government took note of the US tariff decisions and would quickly determine its next steps.
“The country’s long-term economic interests are paramount. Adherence to international law and free trade remain core values,” she said in her post.
The impact of tariffs on US beauty brands
Although it is difficult to estimate the huge impact on global supply chains, this, coupled with the likely trade war that could escalate as a retaliation, is also going to have an impact on US beauty brands.
In 2023, the US imported $6.58bn and exported $6.86bn in beauty products, which is fairly equal. However, it is estimated that only 7% of beauty and personal care products sold in the US are manufactured domestically.
It appears that opportunistic investors are already eyeing the chance to work around the tariffs via domestic luxury production.
Morgan Stanley analysts have previously said that: Trump’s tariffs “could force luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton or CHANEL to reconsider pricing strategies, potentially shifting their manufacturing closer to American soil.”
While US investors may be hoping for a golden age of US manufacturing and self sufficiency, this may not be straightforward.
Starting with product packaging, which is a huge part of the beauty industry, as supply chains are increasingly global.
The US apparently imported $114bn worth of plastic and rubber in 2023, which made it the largest importer of plastic products in the world. Even if US plastic producers manage to scale up to produce the plastic needed for packaging all of its FMCGs, it is highly unlikely that the US beauty industry could become totally self-sufficient.
Many product ingredients and packaging materials rely on materials that cannot be replicated in the US, for example coconut oil or palm oil that can only be sourced from African or Asian countries.
While biotechnology may offer alternatives to some of these ingredients, there are also often patent protections stating that certain formulas should be sourced from ingredients from specific geographical regions.
Many natural and clean beauty products contain botanicals for example, or specific fragrance notes, for example Madagascan vanilla can only be sourced from the African country.
Even many products that are produced domestically still use foreign ‘input,’ somewhere in the supply chain, so US-based sellers may end up paying more due to tariffs and therefore charging more for their products, or having to face the costs and drawbacks of reformulating.
Trade deficits or tackling fentanyl trafficking and illegal immigration?
Some are arguing that there is more at stake than economics on the US government’s decision. That these tariffs have nothing to do with trade deficits and are all about combatting trafficking of the illegal drug fentanyl and illegal immigration.
Over the past decade, fentanyl has caused an epidemic in the US and killed more than quarter of a million Americans and Trump has given this as one of his reasons for placing tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China – stating that it was these countries’ failure at “stopping poisonous fentanyl and other drugs from flowing into our country.”
Meanwhile, others are claiming that the US government is using tariffs as a tool to break down levies imposed by other countries and create “truly free and open global trade” – according to the right-wing thinktank The Heritage Foundation, in an interview with the US TV channel CNN.
Whatever the reasons for the tariffs, for the global cosmetics industry, the US government’s decision to impose new tariffs on all goods entering the US is a blow that will undoubtedly impact beauty and personal care manufacturers, supply chains, packaging firms, retailers, and end consumers, and will require many businesses to rethink their strategies.