The rise of Korean beauty and skincare felt near unstoppable for years. Attracted by the aspirational “glass skin” of K-pop idols and K-drama actors and captivated by the almost meditative flow of the skincare routines, American consumers quickly embraced the K-beauty range.
But Donald Trump’s sudden imposition of import tariffs on South Korea threatens to disrupt that momentum, with fans bracing for price hikes and shortages of products that have come to define their skincare rituals.
The US president imposed a 25 per cent duty on South Korean products earlier this month, later adjusted to 10 per cent until 8 July. This has left businesses as well as customers scrambling to adapt, compelled to navigate a sluggish economy while trying to maintain uninterrupted access to their favourite beauty products.
Christina Im, owner of California K-beauty store Olive Kollection who spent $5,000 (£3,769) to $10,000 (£7,538) a week on bestsellers, stocked up on $40,000 (£30,153) worth of products after the tariffs were announced.
“As a small business, we don’t have that much cash on hand to buy everything in large bulk,” she told CNN. “We just bought as much as we could for now and have to wait and see. If business is going to be slow, I am just going to try to hold out as long as we can.”
Korean-American skincare brand KraveBeauty, which sells products online in the US and in Sephora outlets, said in a TikTok video on 3 April that, for the first time in its seven years of business, it may be forced to raise prices above the long-held $28 (£21) ceiling.
“It’s not something that’s coming out of greed. It’s actually inevitable at this point,” founder Liah Yoo said, adding that KraveBeauty was unlikely to be the only brand affected.
“I’m not sure how long K-beauty can be positioned to be that affordable price point now with this new tariff and trade policy.”
In another video a week later, Ms Yoo said the 145 per cent effective tariff imposed on China “might actually bankrupt some beauty brands”, since packaging for her brand, as well as several others, came from the Asian manufacturing powerhouse.
“Right now, China is probably the biggest country that can supply the amount of packaging that the beauty industry needs at scale, at a much more competitive and reasonable price,” she said.
The tariffs threaten to drive up costs not only on finished products but also ingredients, most of which are sourced from countries outside the US.
While larger conglomerates may be able to absorb the higher costs, or adjust over time, smaller independent brands are likely to struggle to survive, resulting in fewer options for consumers and potentially stifling new product development.
Global distributors like Yesstyle and Stylevana, popular for offering a wide variety of K-beauty products at affordable prices, are also expected to pass on higher costs to their customers. These platforms, which typically ship from warehouses in Hong Kong, and their customers, are bracing for prices to go up after the elimination of the de minimis provision, which previously allowed imports from the city valued at under $800 (£603) to enter the US duty-free.
American beauty enthusiasts have long been enamoured with Korean sunscreens, citing their superior texture, finish and formulation compared to their local counterparts.
Unlike sunscreens made in the US, which consumers complain feel heavy, greasy, or leave a noticeable white cast, Korean sunscreens are lightweight, fast-absorbing, and cosmetically elegant – often doubling as a primer or moisturiser.
South Korean regulators allow for the use of more advanced UV filters in their sunscreens which provide broad-spectrum protection without compromising on feel or comfort. This makes them ideal for skincare enthusiasts who prefer to layer multiple products as the formula fits easily into even the most complicated beauty routines, leaving no pilling or residue.
Jonathan Ko from Los Angeles told the Straits Times he spent around S$463 (£266) on sunscreen and other skincare for himself and his friends on a trip to Korea this week, afraid of “the tariffs driving up prices for everything”.
“Ordered about a year’s worth of sunscreen from Stylevana. I truly can’t go back to US sunscreens. Will have to see what things look like when I eventually run out,” a person said on Reddit, in a conversation about which products were best to stock up on now.
It’s not just niche beauty enthusiasts panicking. According to the South Korean trade ministry, the country’s cosmetics exports reached a record-breaking $10.2bn (£7.68bn) in 2023, with $1.9bn (£1.43bn) headed to the US – making it the second-largest destination after China, state news agencyYonhap reported.
In fact, some K-beauty brands are now more popular in the US than in their home country. “Our biggest market is the US. We’re not really popular in Korea, I have to admit,” Sumin Lee, co-founder of Beauty of Joseon, said on the Glossy Beauty podcast last year.
US-bound Korean cosmetics exports rose 46 per cent year-on-year in 2023 and were projected to grow by another 52 per cent this year, according to Samsung Securities. Korean suncare products alone were forecast to post a 43 per cent rise in American e-commerce sales this year.
Given numbers like this, businesses have good reasons to worry. “This is existential for a lot of brands,” Stacey Tank, CEO of Bespoke Beauty Brands, the parent company of Kimchi Chic Beauty, told the Business of Fashion.
“Anxiety is high, and I understand that, especially if you’re not well capitalised.”
Customers, therefore, are responding in the only way they know how – by buying in bulk. “They are panic-buying,” Marie Del Rosario, store manager for New York’s Senti Senti, told CBS News. “They know that it’s coming. They know that everything is going to change. So, they buy multiples of the products that they love.”
