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Tariffs and the future of MFD

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Paul Spinnler

Well-known member
Wait - did all photo products just get 20 (EU)-24% (JP) more expensive in the US?

60k digital back from P1?

20k+ for a 138 HR?

... 11k for a Leica M?

Not sure this is ideal for P1's launch of the IQ5 given US and China are the main markets ... could also mean production moves to the US, at least assembly?
 
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Paul Spinnler

Well-known member
JeffK said:
Damn, ALPA prices just went up 61%. I guess Rolex's did too.
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No … you misread the chart. It’s 31% but not all Alpa products are from Switzerland. Optics are German and assembled in Germany and then shipped to Switzerland and then to customers.

They can optimize.

But the US has no real photo manufacturing - so even prosumer goes up 20% or more.
 
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steve_cor

Active member
Since it is a reciprocal tariff, a lot of countries are lowering their import tariff so the U.S. import tariff will therefore be lowered too. Although the minimum U.S. import tariff is ten percent. If the E.U. lowers their tariff, then all photo products will be 10% more expensive in the US. It will take a while for current inventory to sell and then we’ll see.



—Steve.
 
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Paul Spinnler

Well-known member
There's not a lot of inventory for the high end stuff - a lot of it is made-to-order because companies wanted to become more efficient.

Phase is mostly made-to-order from a dealer's perspective meaning a back will be shipped once ordered in the internal dealer portal and paid for.

Its also not so that any given dealer will have 5 Rodie 90 SW HR "in stock" for the case that multiple orders come in within 1-2 days.

For the ultra high end this is not helpful, especially Phase.

But agree there will be some negotiation now and the end result may be lower.
 
cunim

cunim

Well-known member
I agree things will settle down once everyone has time to figure out which tariffs go where, but there will be real pain for a while at least. Does Trump want Kodak to do a phoenix? Actually, I miss them so let's hope they do.

Fortunately, those of us photo gear lovers outside the US will feel very little impact from reciprocal tariffs we put on US goods. The US makes very little photo gear. after all. But MF photography is one of the specialized areas in which US consumers will be hit hard. Here's hoping it all goes away soon.
 
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Paul Spinnler

Well-known member
Besides Kodak, there's nothing photo industry wise coming from the US.

I feel for the photo friends in the US. Every single product is now more expensive - the photo industry is mostly based in Europe and Asia ... which means it might be better to just pick up a digital back when on holidays or so.
 
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SrMphoto

Well-known member
Paul Spinnler said:
Besides Kodak, there's nothing photo industry wise coming from the US.

I feel for the photo friends in the US. Every single product is now more expensive - the photo industry is mostly based in Europe and Asia ... which means it might be better to just pick up a digital back when on holidays or so.
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The situation would be very bad for local dealers, including CI. I hope it does not lead to closure of GetDPI which CI sponsors.
Let's hope for the best.
 
cunim

cunim

Well-known member
The end result may not be so bad for companies like CI. After all, Europeans still buy with the VAT in place. Americans will learn to put up with VAT-level tariffs - especially if industries start flooding back into the US. More likely, there will be one huge mess (I remember a world full of tariffs) and Americans will turf out the people responsible for it. It's a race between acquiescence and anger and US dealers will have a temporary cash flow problem. Hang in there.
 
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Paul Spinnler

Well-known member
Look the biggest issue I see now is the uncertainty. Tariffs will go down after negotiations, but now its just a mess for a while :(

So would say no big product launch next week.
 
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SrMphoto

Well-known member
cunim said:
The end result may not be so bad for companies like CI. After all, Europeans still buy with the VAT in place. Americans will learn to put up with VAT-level tariffs - especially if industries start flooding back into the US. More likely, there will be one huge mess (I remember a world full of tariffs) and Americans will turf out the people responsible for it. It's a race between acquiescence and anger and US dealers will have a temporary cash flow problem. Hang in there.
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I doubt we can bring camera and lens manufacturing back to the US within a decade or longer. And neither can we do it for steel.
Americans buying in Europe get the VAT refunded. Many Americans already have an almost 10% sales tax, and adding a 20% tariff tax would result in significant savings when buying in Europe. Of course, you would not get the excellent service that dealers like CI and Camera West provide.
 
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Paul Spinnler

Well-known member
I think everyone in the U.S. should place an order with CI now for all inventory items from Fuji and Hassy.

I mean the 100 RF will be 6k in a week (+24%)
 
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Doppler9000

Well-known member
Paul Spinnler said:
Besides Kodak, there's nothing photo industry wise coming from the US.

I feel for the photo friends in the US. Every single product is now more expensive - the photo industry is mostly based in Europe and Asia ... which means it might be better to just pick up a digital back when on holidays or so.
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Really Right Stuff? There is a fair bit of activity in the CNC-made accessory space.

Edit - see above.
 
Steve Hendrix

Steve Hendrix

Well-known member
Paul Spinnler said:
I think everyone in the U.S. should place an order with CI now for all inventory items from Fuji and Hassy.

I mean the 100 RF will be 6k in a week (+24%)
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We do have good stock levels with Fujifilm and Hasselblad (at the moment).

And also Cambo - we stock a lot of Cambo.

Alpa and Phase One - less stock, more custom order. If you order quickly, it is very possible, we can get that order into the system in time that it ships out tomorrow, tariff-free. And tomorrow would be the last day that shipments would be unaffected.


Steve Hendrix/CI
 
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Paul Spinnler

Well-known member
I think everything that is in stock at CI should be ordered today. Like all Fuji and Hassy lenses etc - everything will look like a bargain a week from now.

It is really unreal.

A Leica M11 for 11k …
 
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Paul Spinnler

Well-known member
Reality is likely it'll go down to maybe 10% or so, but still, given photo manufacturing is predominantly EU / JP its still very unfortunate.
 
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