(Yicai) Nov. 7 -- President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed tariff hikes could drive up prices for products sold on popular cross-border e-commerce platforms such as Temu, Shein, and TikTok Shop, even though Chinese sellers remain confident in their ability to maintain competitive pricing despite the potential increase in costs, according to local experts.

The anticipated tariff additions could significantly raise export costs for a wide range of Chinese products, such as mobile phones, computers, other office electronics, textiles, clothing, and luggage, potentially hurting sales, said Pan Helin, an expert from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

However, e-commerce players are not overly concerned because many Chinese-made products have no real substitutes in terms of variety and cost-effectiveness, said Li Chengdong, founder of tech consultancy Dolphin. Raised customs duties could just ultimately lead to price hikes for American consumers, Li added.

Trump once stated that he would impose a 10 to 20 percent tariff on all goods imported into the United States, and for Chinese-made goods, the rate would be as high as 60 to 100 percent.

North America is the largest market for Chinese cross-border shopping platforms, representing 39 percent of their overseas market share, according to think tank ShineGlobal. The market, which includes Canada and Mexico, is around three times the size of the European Union and continues to grow. Pinduoduo's Temu and the marketplace of ByteDance's short-video platform TikTok have aggressively expanded in North America, driving local brands to venture abroad.

Previous tariff additions have shown that the cost burden tends to fall on US consumers, Shanghai-based Industrial Securities noted in a report. Trump's earlier rounds of import duty hikes cost each American household an additional USD200 to USD300 per year, according to estimates from several American think tanks. Therefore, similar moves are highly likely to drive up product prices, leading to accelerated inflation.

If Trump's new tariffs are imposed, American consumers could potentially lose between USD46 billion and USD78 billion in spending power each year, based on a study released by the National Retail Federation on Nov. 4.

Editor: Emmi Laine