New US camera import tariffs - 25-50%

[KnightsFan]

7 minutes ago, MrSMW said:

More companies need to import stuff through the Heard and MacDonald Islands whilst the opportunity exists.

Oh wait, too late, that loophole of zero human, only penguin residents, has been closed.

Now if only we could close business and rich person tax loopholes with the same efficiency

[BTM_Pix]

1 hour ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

Do people go to NAB to buy things?  When I went pre-covid, there were no sales on the floor.  It was just a trade show with items for display, not for purchase.

Sorry, I was referring more to making the purchasing decisions based on evaluating all the options from the different manufacturers rather than physically buying them there and taking them away.

I have been involved in deals being signed at many NAB shows in a previous life which I doubt will be happening this time due to the uncertainty.

B&H Photo are, of course, happy to take orders from their booth for shipping from their HQ but, yes, the NAB is by and large a safe space for instant GAS gratification !

They have other outlets in Vegas for that.

[BTM_Pix]

20 minutes ago, Thpriest said:

I think importing through Russia might be your best bet.

Yes, they appear to have exported a Manchurian Candidate to the US completely tariff free.

Well it did cost them the price of some new bedsheets sheets, a mop and a couple of MiniDV tapes but still a sweetheart deal.

I wonder if there was a 50% tariff on wives whether Trump would have paused for thought as they are the only things he seems to have any practical experience of importing.

[eatstoomuchjam]

47 minutes ago, BTM_Pix said:

They have other outlets in Vegas for that.

This, yes!  In the year when I went, B&C Camera had some really great deals for NAB.  I think I bought a PanaLeica lens or two then.  I don't see anything on their website now so either they're too confused by tariffs or the deals are in-person only.

[Andrew Reid]

Apparently all camera pre-orders in the US will be cancelled in the coming days, most already have.

Due to the tariffs, retailers can't predict the unit cost when an item actually ships from Asia.

So they can't honour any of the pre-orders.

Millions of $ wiped off retailers books.

Hundreds of lost customers.

And this is the same for everything... cameras, graphics cards, games consoles, Nintendo Switch 2.

Nobody has any idea of what the actual price will be from one week to the next.

Currently imports are stacking up at the ports.

Cars stuck on ships.

I feel sorry for those in the US who didn't vote for this. You are in for a shocking time.

[Marcio Kabke Pinheiro]

13 hours ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

And Brazil has stricter and better laws about hate speech and false reporting than the US - the reason that Twitter and Starlink were recently shut off in the country for a while.  It's even worse here where that's not even a thing.

Speaking as someone from the US, this is more true than I'd like it to be.

Kinda.

Twitter was closed for some time here because the Baby Spreader owner dismissed the local Twitter legal representatives, and by local laws, no enterprisde here could work with a legal representative. Nothing to do with fake news.

Starlink was not cancelled - the Superme Court here blocked Starlink's local assets to pay the fines that Twitter took for (in this case, yes) not giving the law data from some users involved in nazi stuff (including some kids that performes school shootings). The fines were paid and their assets were returned.

Twitter is not much of a problem here - the fake news trends are made there, but the spreading is done using Whatsapp and Telegram groups - closed groups, which cannot be accessed by the law if the owner of the site does not allow to.

[BTM_Pix]

5 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

They must be considering that the expected release date is far enough away for sanity to prevail

Sanity Prevailing Update :

Trump has just said he will add an ADDITIONAL 50% if China don’t withdraw their retaliatiory tariff by tomorrow.

 

[KnightsFan]

The uncertainty really defeats many of the stated purposes. If the goal is to promote American manufacturing, manufacturers need to know that the tariff will be in place for their entire company's history. Even simple items like clothes take time to build large-scale manufacturing for--why would anyone invest in a factory if the tariff could be gone next year? Let alone complex items like cars or chips, the ones that we would actually want to build and export. I mean I don't necessarily look at low-tech industries and think, gee, I wish our country was built around competing with child labor sweatshops.

Of course that's disregarding that the tariffs are also claimed to be leverage to get better deals (ie designed to be removed when a deal is struck) while simultaneously a source of federal revenue (ie designed to be permanent).

[eatstoomuchjam]

22 minutes ago, Marcio Kabke Pinheiro said:

Twitter was closed for some time here because the Baby Spreader owner dismissed the local Twitter legal representatives, and by local laws, no enterprisde here could work with a legal representative. Nothing to do with fake news.

Right, but the reason he released the local representatives was because Moraes was threatening to have them arrested after Musk refused to block several accounts that he found were focused on spreading defamatory fake news.  Musk thought he'd found some idiotic loophole where he could just close their office in Brazil so nobody would be arrested.  Moraes gave Musk 24 hours to appoint a new representative and when Musk didn't, Moraes ordered ISP's to block access.

I stand corrected about Starlink, though.  You're right that it wasn't blocked - just with its assets held.

And yes, private wsp/telegram groups are also a huge problem.

[Emanuel]

1 hour ago, BTM_Pix said:

Sanity Prevailing Update :

Trump has just said he will add an ADDITIONAL 50% if China don’t withdraw their retaliatiory tariff by tomorrow.

 

Much diplomatic... Maybe human race is going towards the extinction a way faster than the most pessimist expectations or we'll see the States blowing up in riots. I have no idea how close sane* people to him manage to handle his crises... We haven't arrived to 100 days yet and we are at this point. What comes next?

 

* if any

[eatstoomuchjam]

5 minutes ago, KnightsFan said:

If the goal is to promote American manufacturing, manufacturers need to know that the tariff will be in place for their entire company's history.

The other part of this is that if the goal is to increase manufacturing, there should be a stated date for the tariffs to go into effect which is far enough away that companies can build/buy factories and train workers.  And the tariffs also shouldn't be on things like the raw materials needed to build the factories in the first place and/or that the factory will need to operate.  Or the food that the workers need to eat.

12 minutes ago, KnightsFan said:

Let alone complex items like cars or chips, the ones that we would actually want to build and export. I mean I don't necessarily look at low-tech industries and think, gee, I wish our country was built around competing with child labor sweatshops.

You don't, but several red states have passed laws in recent years (or have them currently in debate) to make it much easier for children to have jobs.  Even now, the legislature in Florida is in the midst of pasing HB 1225 which would make it legal for 13-year olds to get jobs and remove restrictions on the number of hours that 16 and 17-year olds can work.  It would also eliminate mandatory 30-minute meal breaks for 16 and 17-year olds during shifts of more than 4 hours.

Also, it would allow kids who are 14/15 who are home schooled or in virtual school to work unlimited hours 7 days/week, also without any mandated meal breaks.  And it would say that they could start at the beginning of summer break during the calendar year when they'll turn 14 (which is how it allows 13-year olds to get jobs).  So, soon enough, we could be making america child sweatshop-friendly again!

[Yannick Willox]

2 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

I feel sorry for those in the US who didn't vote for this. You are in for a shocking time.

Oh man, you are grossly exaggerating things.

It is not that US schools, children, women, hospitals etc are being bombed to death and free-world journalists are being willingly targeted by snipers. Or important people falling through windows or from terraces, while teenagers get arrested and convicted to 10 years of prison for pinning a little note on a wall.

Apart from turning into a third world country, nothing shocking will happen.

[Andrew Reid]

6 hours ago, KnightsFan said:

The uncertainty really defeats many of the stated purposes. If the goal is to promote American manufacturing, manufacturers need to know that the tariff will be in place for their entire company's history.

Yeah, it's all quite obvious to us but apparently not to Trump voters, who only know the goal is to promote American manufacturing but don't understand the reality.

The reality is that American manufacturing even when it's on US soil requires suppliers across borders, and all over the world. Raw materials that cannot be sourced in the US. Trading partners with cheaper labour - Mexico, Vietnam, China... And supply chains in Canada just across the border for automotive manufacturing and more...

So even when you have dismantled all of this, aside from the fact US manufacturing will collapse if you do, there's the clear-as-day problem of wage levels... It just isn't economical to make large volume electronics (or much else consumer-wise) in the US due to the average wage level vs places like China and Vietnam. Foxconn employ a city's worth of millions.

It's the big elephant in the room every time Trump bangs on about protecting American jobs and bringing manufacturing back home.

What is the cost to the consumer?

If he succeeds then consumers won't be buying much as it will be 1000% more expensive.

6 hours ago, KnightsFan said:

Even simple items like clothes take time to build large-scale manufacturing for--why would anyone invest in a factory if the tariff could be gone next year?

Yeah, can you imagine TSMC bringing their fabs over to the US... The world's most expensive relocation for what... zero political stability, massively higher wage bill, there isn't even the talent pool for stuff like semiconductor engineering - it's mainly in Asia. They will not convince their best people to leave Taiwan and go and live in a hostile environment for foreigners (sad to say that about the US, isn't it?)

And the other problem is that the US government, in particular Trump himself are making themselves look TOTALLY economically illiterate and completely untrustworthy in terms of managing the US economy, which scares off the investment even more.

6 hours ago, KnightsFan said:

Of course that's disregarding that the tariffs are also claimed to be leverage to get better deals (ie designed to be removed when a deal is struck) while simultaneously a source of federal revenue (ie designed to be permanent).

He wants maximum leverage for the upcoming talks with 50-odd countries.

The danger here is that the damage has already been done.

US untrustworthy.

Global supply chains and shipping disrupted in similar manner as COVID.

Inflation and supply problems beginning to mount up big style in only a short few days.

Trillions wiped off stocks.

And more shit... All for a supposably 'better bargaining position' in trade-talks.

Then there's still the chance that they will just end up fighting with China rather than striking a deal and the trade-war rumbles on for years, leading to a military confrontation and devastating unemployment and poverty all over the world, but especially in the US and China.

All because of one idiot and the idiots who thought voting for a convicted economically illiterate crook was a good idea.

[eatstoomuchjam]

32 minutes ago, Andrew Reid said:

So even when you have dismantled all of this, aside from the fact US manufacturing will collapse if you do, there's the clear-as-day problem of wage levels... It just isn't economical to make large volume electronics (or much else consumer-wise) in the US due to the average wage level vs places like China and Vietnam. Foxconn employ a city's worth of millions.

Also don't forget that many of those countries have looser environmental rules than the US.  Of course, part of shithead's dismantling of regulatory agencies is to also relax our environmental regulations - won't we all be happy when there are toxic chemicals poured with impunity into the ground and water.  Make America Bhopal again?

35 minutes ago, Andrew Reid said:

They will not convince their best people to leave Taiwan and go and live in a hostile environment for foreigners (sad to say that about the US, isn't it?)

If there's one thing that the US has done very well through most of its history, it's dislike foreigners!  Nearly every wave of immigrants has been despised until a couple of generations after they arrived.

35 minutes ago, Andrew Reid said:

He wants maximum leverage for the upcoming talks with 50-odd countries.

The danger here is that the damage has already been done.

Exactly this.  A bunch of other countries have already started negotiations or entered trade agreements with new suppliers as retaliation against the US tariffs.  Apparently soy exports to China have already cratered.  Know anybody who wants about 18 billion dollars worth of soybeans?  We have a few spares.  Brazil, on the other hand, has suddenly found an excellent new market for theirs.  Time for some farmers to illegally cut down some more of the Amazon to feed the demand!

[Ninpo33]

9 hours ago, Yannick Willox said:

Oh man, you are grossly exaggerating things.

It is not that US schools, children, women, hospitals etc are being bombed to death and free-world journalists are being willingly targeted by snipers. Or important people falling through windows or from terraces, while teenagers get arrested and convicted to 10 years of prison for pinning a little note on a wall.

Apart from turning into a third world country, nothing shocking will happen.

One has nothing to do with the other.
 

For all the things you are complaining about, someone else in Africa having a worse time could say YOU are also grossly exaggerating things. everything is subjective. 

[newfoundmass]

9 hours ago, Yannick Willox said:

Oh man, you are grossly exaggerating things.

It is not that US schools, children, women, hospitals etc are being bombed to death and free-world journalists are being willingly targeted by snipers. Or important people falling through windows or from terraces, while teenagers get arrested and convicted to 10 years of prison for pinning a little note on a wall.

Apart from turning into a third world country, nothing shocking will happen.

I understand that there are those who are suffering much worse than we are, but it doesn't make the damage being done any less significant for those who are being hurt most. 

Besides, our kids might not being bombed but my nephew last month had a school drill on what to do if there's an active shooter. 

Shits pretty fucked up. 

[ND64]

The reason Germany became aggressive that led to WWII was this perception that they're going to be irrelevant in the new world. The same reason that Russia became so aggressive after Putin took control. Russia has nothing to offer to the world except oil and gas, and their reserve last only 20 years (assuming they didn't fucked up the wells due to sanctions). That's why they think they need new vassal states to survive. Pure imperial framework of thinking. And now at least half of Americans are thinking the same. They think they were an empire sometime in the past (which is a delusion. It never was), and now facing the danger of becoming irrelevant. Because in the new world, China makes anything (including rules and standards), does anything, changes anything. So in their view,  not only its justified to be aggressive towards China, but also towards the whole world that accepts China supremacy. And as happened many times before, the one who get aggressive towards almost everybody, caused by a panic, based on some delusions; will commit some suicidal acts. 

[Yannick Willox]

I guess sarcasm and cynism are not very understood in this thread.

but I take exception to “one has nothing to do with the other.” It has very much to do with each other. You may disagree, but then you are probably part of the problem.

Countries led by convicted, or nearly convicted or should be convicted ..sholes. There seems to be a common ground.

 

[MrSMW]

What I am incredulous about is not so much how we got to this point, but how this point even exists.

Beyond stating that, I have no words.

[Snowfun]

If an (unintended) consequence of all this nonsense is  “buy local and buy less” then that will, I think, be a good thing.

Not protectionism. Not jingoism. Not anti-globalisation. But nevertheless possibly better for the planet and for our own health & wellbeing.