Trump’s tariffs on camera gear can only hurt photographers

The full force of Trump’s so-called ‘reciprocal’ tariffs has started to hit hard. Earlier this week, we reported that the price of a whole host of Nikon cameras and lenses shot up, followed not long after by Canon hiking prices on its camera gear.

Sony has also raised its prices recently, and Leica almost doubled the US price of the one of its cameras before going out of stock seemingly indefinitely, all as a direct result of the blanket tariffs levied on anything not made in the USA. The tariffs are even rumored as being responsible for the delayed Sony A7 V, though that could well be down to general mass production issues.

Tariffs are imposed on the importer of goods as they are brought into the United States, not the manufacturer. So, the importer has the choice of attempting to absorb the additional cost it is required to pay or passing it on to the consumer.

The way the big camera corporations tend to operate is that the parent company will sell its products to subsidiaries it owns in the respective territories it operates in. That price is set, so it’s up to the local subsidiary to decide whether to cut into its own profits or pass the costs on.

In an already competitive market where margins are relatively thin, there may not be much choice other than to do the latter.

The idea, of course, is to cut the competitive advantage that foreign firms have over American ones due to lower labor costs overseas (among other things) to create a more level playing field, or to persuade multinationals to move manufacturing to the USA.

But when it comes to the photography market, Canon, Nikon, Sony et al have no history of manufacturing their products in the United States and are unlikely to move production to the country. Particularly given that, even in the short few months that they have been threatened, the levels of the tariffs change seemingly on a whim.

It would likely take years to tool up manufacturing in the US, in which time who knows who will be in charge and what will happen to the tariffs.

And even if they were to gear up for American-made production, the nature of international supply chains would mean vital components that are only ever likely to be made overseas – such as camera sensors – would still have tariffs imposed on them.

Even American historic photographic brand names, such as Kodak and Polaroid, haven’t seen a camera roll off a production line in the USA for years. And with no locally made competition, there’s little incentive for camera manufacturers to eat into their own bottom line so they can sell to importers at a lower price, as they're all in the same boat.

At the very best, it might cause companies to switch production from their higher-tariffed production lines to countries they already operate in with lower tariffs – from China to Japan, for example, as is the case with some Fujifilm cameras – but it won’t make the slightest difference when it comes to creating more American jobs.

If anything, the reverse is more likely to be true – as if US citizens buy less camera kit in response, then it will only negatively impact US-based resellers, who may in turn be forced to cut their own costs.

Where there may be some logic in imposing targeted tariffs on foreign-made goods that are also manufactured in the USA, such as automobiles, for products that the US has no expertise in manufacturing, the only people who will suffer are American consumers – either by paying over the odds or having to do without the latest and greatest kit because they can no longer afford it.

So, whatever your view on the wisdom of protectionism, there’s no doubt that when it comes to camera kit, tariffs on photography gear hurt American photographers above all else.

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Check out our constantly-updated story on camera tariffs for all the latest developments on the tariff situation.