- TechRadar caught up with Gary Shapiro, CEO of the CTA
- "We don't like tariffs" is the message from the CTA to the incoming administration
- The proposed tariffs would be "devastating" for consumer goods, including tech
CES 2025, the massive consumer technology trade show in Las Vegas, is less than two months away. It falls in the liminal space between a historic US Presidential Election and a new administration's very significant plans for US trade, which could impact many of the thousands of technology companies expected at the tradeshow and the majority of US customers they serve.
The Consumer Technology Association (CTA), the non-profit organization behind the event that often represents the industry's interests before the US government, has a message for the incoming administration: "We don't like tariffs."
Speaking at a CES 2025 preview kick-off dinner in Manhattan this week, CTA CEO, lobbyist, and best-selling author Gary Shapiro held nothing back when I asked him about President-elect Donald Trump's plans to apply a blanket 20% tariff to all imported goods and, potentially, a special 60% tariff on Chinese imports.
I will to my deathbed indicate that tariffs are not paid for by the countries involved, they're paid for by the consumers
–CTA CEO Gary Shapiro
"I will to my deathbed indicate that tariffs are not paid for by the countries involved, they're paid for by the consumers that are paying for a tax, and tariffs are a tax. It's basic economics. The fact that President Trump found that one economist who will say that out of thousands of economists doesn't mean anything to me."
Shapiro added that the 20% tariff likely to include Mexico and Canadian imports will be "very inflationary and not help the economy."
Trump's more draconian Chinese tariff measure, which appears designed to force companies to bring manufacturing back to the United States, could be, as Shapiro and the CTA see it, even worse, calling the proposed 60% tariff potentially "devastating."
It gets worse
The impact of these tariffs could be twofold because in addition to whatever pass-along costs consumers get from the tariffed companies, the countries being tariffed will, Shapiro told me, "hit back on us, and our exports will be affected, as well, and we have a huge amount of exports. This is not good for the country."
Shapiro, however, is not just pointing the finger at the incoming administration. He made it clear to me that some tariffs imposed by the last Trump administration remained in place during the Biden administration. He called them "bipartisan tariffs." In his first term, Trump applied $80 billion worth of tariffs. Biden kept the majority of them in place.
Despite the dire outlook, Shapiro told me the CTA would welcome the new administration and added that there's been "no fallout" among CES 2025 exhibitors and that some business people are optimistic about the change at the White House because the regulatory environment under Biden has been so strict. Shapiro pointed to the scuttling of Amazon's iRobot acquisition. "In a way, there's some optimism that we'll finally be able to get to some things we should."
That, though, does not alter the CTA's position on tariffs. "We will oppose them." said Shapiro, adding, "Will we succeed? I don't know."
