Samsung, the world’s leading TV maker, said that it believes its TV business will be less impacted than its rivals’ by the recently announced U.S. tariffs. In support of that statement, the Korean conglomerate pointed to the fact that most of its TVs sold in North America are produced in Mexico. Our southern neighbors were left out of the most recent wave of new import taxes, but, even still, televisions are covered under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement (USMCA) – a pact that allows for certain items to flow free-of-duties between the North American countries.
Samsung’s global share of the TV market swelled to more than 28 percent in 2024, up from around 20 percent in prior years. The brand has experienced increasing pressure on its standing as the top dog from the likes of major Chinese brands TCL and Hisense, while LG, another Korean company, also continues to perform well, year-to-year.
Unlike Samsung, though, TCL and Hisense manufacture their TVs primarily in their home country, which is facing a new tariff rate of 34 percent. LG is also in shaky water; the company uses manufacturing facilities in Indonesia, a country that was hit with a new tariff rate of 32 percent.Still, the company’s top display exec did say this week that they’d be keeping an eye on the situation and would “allocate production accordingly” across their 10 manufacturing plants around the world.
