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In other tariff news, fans of Korean skin care products are taking inventory after a frenzy of placing online orders from international retailers. The de minimis tariff exemption that used to apply to small shipments from abroad ended on Friday. Yes, an appeals court and a lower court have both found the president exceeded his authority by constantly changing import taxes on his own, but that ruling is on hold until the Supreme Court speaks. From member station KCRW, Megan Jamerson reports.

MEGAN JAMERSON, BYLINE: Last week, TikTok was full of posts from people like Tiffany Chao who were racing to stock up on their favorite skincare products from South Korea-based online retailers like Olive Young.

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TIFFANY CHAO: I cannot live without my Korean or Japanese sunscreen. I placed a huge skincare hall with Olive Young.

JAMERSON: Korean skin care products have a cult following, in part because of how cheap they are compared to other high-quality products. According to the U.S. International Trade Commission, the U.S. imported $1.7 billion worth of South Korean cosmetics in 2024. Before last Friday, when you placed an order from South Korea, it was exempt from tariffs if it was under $800. Now those packages will be subject to either a tariff of 15% or a flat fee of $80 per package. That means your $16 tube of sunscreen got a lot more expensive.

MUNSEOB LEE: It would take several months to see the full impact.

JAMERSON: That’s Munseob Lee. He’s an economics professor at UC San Diego who specializes in the Korean economy. He says if people don’t find a product they love in the U.S., they may be willing to pay the higher prices.

LEE: Korean skin care products have so unique features, and it’s also quite popular, I mean, partly because of the huge popularity in the K-pop culture.

JAMERSON: There are some retailers in the U.S. that sell these products. Many couldn’t take advantage of de minimis because they order in bulk, but they were already dealing with tariffs that went into effect in August. Vanessa Nabhani owns a Korean skin care shop in Pasadena, California, called PlayLab Beauty. She stocked up on Korean sunscreen before the tariff. She hasn’t raised her prices yet.

VANESSA NABHANI: When people are, you know, standing in our store with their phones out, price-comparing against, you know, Amazon or Olive Young or whatever it is, that extra dollar matters.

JAMERSON: But as a small business owner, she can only eat the cost of tariffs for so long.

For NPR News, I’m Megan Jamerson in Los Angeles.

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