Cars and smartphones may be one of the largest exports of South Korea to the US, but there is also an audience that remains dedicated to Korean beauty products.

OR K-Beauty – A term that covers a wide range of skin care products, makeup and cosmetics from South Korea – praised for its quality and value, leading to increased demand in recent years.

Pearl Mak, a 27 -year -old graphic designer, told the BBC that she learned about beauty products from her friends. South Korean products are more suitable for its skin than some western brands that tend to be tougher.

Now “95% of my skin care consists of K beauty products,” he adds.

Mak is not the only one who prefers South Korean skin care brands. Americans spent up to $ 1.7 billion on K-Beauty beauty products in 2024, according to estimates in the industry. It marks increase of over 50% compared to the previous year.

K-Beauty beauty products often have more attractive prices From the corresponding west – but they also contain ingredients that are not found so often in the West.

US President Donald Trumpimposed a 15% duty on imports of South Korean goods trafficked between Seoul and Washington. It is less than the 25% tax it had threatened, but many consumers do not risk.

The American K-Creative Beauty Retail Company Santé brand, She saw her orders rise by nearly 30% in April, shortly after Trump’s announcement to impose sweeping duties on US imports to most of the world.

“When the announcements were made on duties, customers strategically designed how to deal with the storm,” Santé brand founder Cheyenne Ware told the BBC. “Consumers are preparing for uncertainty,” he added.

Another K-Beauty beauty retailer, the Senti Senti, He orders more products than Trump started his threats to tariff duties, says director Winnie Zhong.

This week, he received alerts from suppliers to encourage retailers to “fit before the duties”.

Both retailers have stated that K-Beauty beauty prices are likely to increase as contributions increase costs across the industry.

“Anyone who tells you that prices will remain stable over the next two years is naive,” says Santé Brand.

Prices are inevitable to grow, Especially for smaller beauty products on platforms such as Amazon, which operate with small profit margins, says economist Munseob Lee of the University of California in San Diego.

Despite the highest prices, the global popularity of South Korean culture means that K beauty products are likely to remain in demand in the US, he says.

“Occasional buyers may be discouraged from the highest price, but its fans will not easily find a substitute.”

‘Difficult to find a substitute’

The big K-Beauty beauty brands are in a much better position to absorb the cost of duties from their smaller competitors, says South Korea-based business consultant Eyal Victor Mamou.

These larger companies will be able to avoid significant price increases for their customers as they have higher profit margins, he says.

However, smaller K-Beauty beauty companies that make their products in South Korea will find it difficult to limit costsadds Mr. Mamou.

In recent days, President Trump has entered into agreements with Japan and the European Union, which will impose 15% of South Korea on their exports to the US. This means that countries that host some of the world’s largest cosmetics brands face the same taxes as the K-Beauty cosmetics industry.

The central element of Trump’s commercial policies is his ambition to see more goods being manufactured in America. But it has not yet been shown if this will mean that buyers in the US will turn to American beauty products.