What will the impact of prospective -- and possibly impending -- U.S. tariffs be on audio gear?

[kemmler3D]

Looking at the price of Edifier speakers in the USA, it seems USA is being fleeced by sellers regardless.

This is because of distributor / dealer markup most likely... sometimes it can be substantial with exclusive deals.

 

[TonyJZX]

i heard on the grapevine that companies that rely on foreign raw materials are buying up BIGGG nao

fill up the warehouse.... buy as much as you can to insulate yourself after Jan 20

you ARE going to have to put up prices after jan 20 to cover the tariffs then that's pure profit into your coffers

even if the tariifs dont come as hard as they say well then you still put up your prices anyway and still come out ahead

its a win win win, for the consumer not so much

and so the lesson here is you have to buy NOW - dont hesitate

its not going to get better in the short term

 

[Sokel]

Chinese cannot afford to absorb tariffs.
All theoretical is good but think of it backwards.They ask people to declare false values about items send there for repair exactly because they have tariffs too.
Now think of the nightmare that an item has to pay tariffs 2 more times if repaired,once going in China and once more going in US again.

And considering how many stuff gets lost in the way false declared value and insurance may not be the best idea.

 

[TonyJZX]

the chinese are NEVER going to take a haircut just because the end user market requires tariffs - that's the consumers' problem

i mean you'd be nuts to think that... inasmuch as the mexicans were going to pay for that wall

btw. its not just china affected.... arent Revel speakers made in Indonesia? My ELACs are from some place in the EU? expect to pay more... and one wonders what that does to inflation....

 

[Jimbob54]

As long as we can keep the discussion to impacts on prices of audio equipment and the theoretical / factual basis for those thoughts, I think it's OK. If we start discussing the personages behind potential changes in import taxes then I think this thread goes poof.

Exactly that .

And sly nods to voting % , saner minds etc will be what gets this closed .

I'm already hovering over the button and things are being (rightly) reported.

 

[TonyJZX]

prelim reports is that China is going to get 60%

other countries are in the "teens"

let's hope this is contained inside the US - I suspect it will bleed out to other countries as is the nature of the beast

the sweetener for this was that personal and corporate taxes for US citizens and companies would be ZERO

let's see if that eventuates!

 

[Mort]

I would assume anything purchased directly like new MiniDsp units from hong Kong will have no way to avoid or minimize the impact of a high tarrif (assuming electronics at that price point are included).

 

[MaxwellsEq]

What tariffs?

FX checks news feed.

Ah, in the USA.

 

[Mort]

Ah, in the USA.

Oh yeah. We had some news.

 

[TonyJZX]

where i am its an auto 10% on anything coming in

i suspect this is 'weaksauce' for other people where they have an auto 20% and I heard of even worse in places like Brazil where i can be fairly punative... ie. some arbitrary 50% or more?

if you buy off ebay or aliexpress you cant get around it but i have had some outliers ie. amazon in japan didnt hit me at all (do we have some FTA with Japan???)

BUT its often up to the local immigration and borders and they're under the hammer so they let in a LOT

i suspect the IRS and CBP are going to come down hard as its 60%!

10% you can sort of let pass on some stuff but 60%.... that's a big chunk!

 

[holdingpants01]

you ARE going to have to put up prices after jan 20 to cover the tariffs then that's pure profit into your coffers
even if the tariifs dont come as hard as they say well then you still put up your prices anyway and still come out ahead

One can be sure that all of the competition will also rise prices regardless of the tariffs, just to keep the price proportion the same and to get free profit, that's too good opportunity for them to miss. I experienced it about 1-2 years ago, everyone rode the inflation wave, it reached 18% here for a month or two, yet it was actually less than 7% annual, but everyone jumped the "18%!!!" ship and started to instantly raise the prices by 20-30% just because they could

 

[wwenze]

China has outright ban on many things and that allowed their homegrown "alternatives" to flourish

India also has some pretty nasty tariffs on some imports including phones which incentives the phones to be manufactured locally

But as usual these get mentioned as often as women's rights in Iran.

Here's one scenario where tariffs are good and I thank the discussion here for giving me the idea: Imagine somebody in the USA selling rebranded SMSL stuff at Benchmark prices to USA consumers because the buyers don't know the difference. Or worse, sell it at same price minus 10% to steal market share. The extra profit margin goes to the Cayman Islands.

 

[Mart68]

One can be sure that all of the competition will also rise prices regardless of the tariffs, just to keep the price proportion the same and to get free profit, that's too good opportunity for them to miss. I experienced it about 1-2 years ago, everyone rode the inflation wave, it reached 18% here for a month or two, yet it was actually less than 7% annual, but everyone jumped the "18%!!!" ship and started to instantly raise the prices by 20-30% just because they could

Increase on essential goods and services has to be paid, but on anything non-essential I'd have thought the result would just be suppressed demand, lower sales and ultimately lower profits?

If sales stayed the same despite the increase then they were probably pricing too low to begin with.

I've often thought that western economies would have been better off with high tariffs on at least some imports and that 'globalisation' has, on the whole, not been favourable to them.

But economics is only an interest for me not something I really know about so that may well be nonsense.

 

[MaxwellsEq]

I live in a country which used to be part of a large continental trade bloc. My observation is that tariffs result in increased paperwork, the paperwork results in increased bureaucracy, bureaucracy is always wasteful in any efficient system.

 

[Old_School_Brad]

In my view, the effectiveness of tariffs depends on whether domestic businesses can become competitive enough to meet demand in terms of price, quality, and production capacity.

 

[TonyJZX]

In my view, the effectiveness of tariffs depends on whether domestic businesses can become competitive enough to meet demand in terms of price, quality, and production capacity.

yeah that's never going to happen

the outgoing mob sunk $50 bn into a foundry in response to TSMC and Samsung and yet... how's that going?

where I am we have no local auto manfacturing capability and yet you can be sure we still have import car tariffs

how's that chicken tax working out for ya?

 

[Old_School_Brad]

yeah that's never going to happen

the outgoing mob sunk $50 bn into a foundry in response to TSMC and Samsung and yet... how's that going?

where I am we have no local auto manfacturing capability and yet you can be sure we still have import car tariffs

how's that chicken tax working out for ya?

I'm not well-informed enough about U.S. manufacturing capability to comment specifically on that.
If a country has depended on inexpensive labor from abroad for decades, I can imagine the path forward would require significant effort.
However, my general perspective on tariffs remains as I’ve described. It's not inherently a bad thing.

 

[Mart68]

The USA is still the second largest manufacturing nation in the world so they must still be making something there.

Global Manufacturing Output in 2024: A Comprehensive Snapshot

Step into 2024's global manufacturing landscape with an updated list of the top 50 countries by manufacturing output. Learn about their contributions to the global economy.

cncmachines.com

 

[TonyJZX]

a lot things on paper make sense

i learnt that in 1st year econ

also in that list Russia is at #9... bigger than UK and France and yet there's nothing from Russia I own except a few bottles of vodka...

 

[Old_School_Brad]

a lot things on paper make sense

i learnt that in 1st year econ

also in that list Russia is at #9... bigger than UK and France and yet there's nothing from Russia I own except a few bottles of vodka...

This isn’t a mystery:

"Russia's manufacturing output is driven by its energy sector, heavy machinery, and military equipment industries."