The Effect of Tariffs on Camera Lovers

[das]

It would appear that these new tariffs will result in a significant price hike for Americans on all of our favorite new cameras and lenses made in Germany, Japan, China, and beyond.

Also, because it appears that the Administration is removing the traditional "de minimis" exemption, eBay and Etsy international transactions will also be subject to these new consumer taxes. Will there be any exemption for "used" items, or will the tariffs only apply to "new" products? We would have to assume both at this point?

What about the price of film? Will Ilford and other foreign-made film stocks and chemicals now be more expensive? Fuji Instax film? Will domestically produced film from Kodak spike in price because of the raw materials sourced from abroad? Will Kodak outsource some US production to lower wage countries to avoid the retaliatory tariffs from other countries?

Finally, increasing end user prices on new products will invariably increase the prices on used gear.

I think it would be clear that no amount of tariffs is going to spawn some resurrection of a US-based camera industry that had essentially died by the 1960s. I hope whatever the US government intends to do with all of this "revenue" is worth it. .

 

[571514m3]

Yes to everything you list. The 'revenue' is just a new tax paid by those who are willing to pay for those items.

I feel for those who already struggle with photography related prices as they are. For films and whatever small bits there may be a solution by way of informal two-way gifting. We could all become hawaladars.

And we outside the US could send 'care' parcels to those whose spirits are down. Kinda what I remember the relatives did for folk behind the iron curtain.

 

[KoNickon]

Yeah, film especially has me worried. I do have a fair amount in the freezer, but mainly b&w and it's coming into flower season, so color print in both 135 and 120 I will need to stock up on. Hopefully my local place has some already in stock (and they won't jack the price).

 

[Coldkennels]

And we outside the US could send 'care' parcels to those whose spirits are down. Kinda what I remember the relatives did for folk behind the iron curtain.

...problem with that is that tariffs will inevitably also end up going on those care parcels!

Tariffs have never been useful or productive. I mentioned in another thread how tariffs on grain that were put into law to protect landowners in the UK led to food poverty and worsened the Irish Famine in the early 1800s; the idea of being nationally self-sufficient is appealing, but even if you have a great industrial and agricultural base, it leaves you very vulnerable to shock when things go wrong.

(See also: the famines in North Korea after their only real trading partner, the Soviet Union, ceased to exist.)

It's also completely unrealistic in the 21st century to expect any nation to be self-sufficient. Everything you make in America is reliant on at least one material that can only be sourced elsewhere in the world. One company I work with makes a product with urethane down in Texas. The near-total closure of international shipping for a while in COVID absolutely shafted them, because they needed one chemical for a specific urethane blend that can only be sourced from BASF in Europe. I imagine Kodak will be in the same boat.

Plus, of course, there's the issue of retaliatory tariffs; if the EU matches Trump's tariffs, a lot of US products just won't be financially competitive, so you'll see exports drop, too. If that happens, I expect some US-based companies will end up manufacturing outside the US to get around that (if they're not already), so you won't see any growth in local manufacturing and local jobs.

The whole thing is very poorly thought out.

 

[DownUnder]

The obvious response to all these idiotic events, is to not buy anything photographic for six months.

When the US suppliers find themselves going to the wall, everything will change super quickly.

Otherwise you are all playing the game. And the Man Child In Charge loves game-playing...

 

[Disappointed_Horse]

These tariffs are the stupidest economic policy I’ve ever heard of. They are NOT in any way based on tariffs charged by other countries. The are based upon US TRADE DEFICITS with other countries. Reciprocal Tariff Calculations

The presumption that trade deficits are due to trade restrictions by the other countries is idiotic. While I’m sure there are some American products that sell well overseas on their own merit (i.e., Kodak film), people in most other countries don’t want gigantic gas guzzling pickup trucks and SUVs or horrible food filled with chemicals and high fructose corn syrup. Trump’ extortionate tariffs aren’t going to change that. What they are is a blatant attempt by Trump to blackmail other countries to change consumer protection regulations that protect their people.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Photography of these days doesn't need another gear purchase or film.
I was thinking of selling some cameras I have. Locally and for cash.

 

[p.giannakis]

I was looking yesterday at the Chinese, Japanese and South Korea representatives shaking hands - all the tariffs did was pushed them three together to negotiate a trade deal for 1.56 billion people. That is a big market, especially if you think that India and Thailand want to join. It won't be long before the EU will start eyeing that direction too. Will the UK join? Who knows?

All these tariffs will manage to do is exclude the US market from it due to cost. We know that from brexit, EU companies dismantled production lines from UK soil and transferred them to Slovakia and Romania.

Will we end up seeing products getting cheaper? No, I doubt - companies will have to recover the losses caused by this trade war.

 

[Richard G]

The tariffs are a tax on US citizens and designed to be. The British have VAT and Australia the GST, basically consumption taxes. It would be impossible to get legislative support for such a tax in the USA. The benefit of these goods and services taxes is that everyone pays, including the rich. And they consume/buy a lot of stuff. One newspaper here called the Liberation Day chart a hoax, as Disappointed Horse has called it out here too. Where this will end is unclear. But even in the short/medium term never bet against America. Many of the tariff rates will be negotiated downwards. The markets will rise again soon enough.

 

[Freakscene]

The tariffs are a tax on US citizens and designed to be. The British have VAT and Australia the GST, basically consumption taxes. It would be impossible to get legislative support for such a tax in the USA. The benefit of these goods and services taxes is that everyone pays, including the rich. And they consume/buy a lot of stuff. One newspaper here called the Liberation Day chart a hoax, as Disappointed Horse has called it out here too. Where this will end is unclear. But even in the short/medium term never bet against America. Many of the tariff rates will be negotiated downwards. The markets will rise again soon enough.

The Liberation Day chart was generated by Chat GPT, which is why Lord Howe, Heard and Macquarie Islands have their own tariffs, among other errors. Same as I tell my students: if you use it and don’t know your stuff, there will be mistakes, which someone who understands will spot.

https://www.cato.org/blog/trumps-tariffs-arent-reciprocal-are-massive-tax-increase-americans

 

[splitimageview]

The mods have discussed and decided to close all threads regarding tariffs. This is entirely due to the fact that these threads will inevitably turn political, and we just don't have the time to moderate out problematic posts. If we had 20 mods we would approach this differently. Thanks to all for your understanding!