October 15, 2025
The Wall Street Journal: Feds Find No Evidence of Tariff Cheating Among Appliance Makers; Whirlpool accused rivals of undervaluing imports to cut their tariff bills, but customs officials blame data-entry errors
GE Appliances, which said last month that Whirlpool's allegations were inaccurate, issued a fresh rebuke: "Any well-run company should understand the limitations of using this data, and it is unfortunate Whirlpool not only misused it, but tried to weaponize it for competitive advantage."
September 15, 2025
GE Appliances Demands Whirlpool Retract Unfounded Tariff Claims
For Whirlpool to lodge unsupported claims with the Administration, based essentially on guesswork, is irresponsible and inappropriate. GE Appliances takes compliance seriously, and we have robust customs compliance processes in place, including third-party reviews and audits.
We value competition and believe it is good for U.S. consumers, but this attack from Whirlpool looks like frustration over their own lagging performance.
Whirlpool’s claims are based on a misuse of U.S. Census import data, which is aggregated across all importers and cannot be used to determine the import values of any individual company. The Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) codes Whirlpool cites cover a wide range of product types, making it impossible for outsiders to calculate SKU-level import values for any single company.
The examples Whirlpool shared with us are inaccurate and do not reflect the actual values we declared to U.S. Customs. They referenced products we did not import during the cited period and understated values on other products by half. They also failed to account for significant differences across models, features, and costs—further distorting their conclusions.
GE Appliances complies fully with all trade laws and reporting requirements, and we stand by the accuracy of our data. We are demanding that Whirlpool retract its statements to the Administration and cease disseminating inaccurate information about our company.
Our team of 15,000-plus employees at GE Appliances is committed to our strategy of winning by investing $6.5 billion by 2029 in our U.S. manufacturing plants and operations to better serve our customers and consumers.