04/04/25 The Debacle of the Trump Tariff Plan Continues, with another 1K drop in the Market

Big surprise here. The market has continued with its negative response to the Trump Tariff Plan. 2.5K drop in two days, I believe that is a RECORD?

Maybe in a couple of months we will get back to the 42K level the market was with Biden, however with the current group of idiots in charge, we may not.

As a photographer, I started to look at what this would mean if I purchased a new camera or equipment after April 9th. As most if not all of the equipment I purchase come from Japanese companies, Fuji, Nikon, Canon, Phase One*, Pentax. Currently the tariff is 25% on all products from Japan and 54% if the product is manufactured in China. A lot of Nikon lenses are manufactured in China, and so are Hasselblad parts for lenses. I don’t know if Canon has moved anything to China, or if Fuji has. But lets look at the uplift for the average product:

1. Hasselblad X2D or new X2D II currently 8K, would now cost 10k, uplifted 2K
2. Fuji GFX100II current cost 8K, would now cost 10K, uplifted 2K
3. All lenses would be uplifted 25 percent, very considerate for Hasselblad X glass which on average costs over 4K per lens.
4. Nikon Z8 currently 3.5K, would cost 4.3K
5. Leica SL2 currently 7K, would cost 8.4K
6. The list goes on and on
7. Phase One IQ4 (average price with trade in 30K) goes to 37K

I checked this morning with various on-line camera retailers and they are not showing any price increases. However they may have quite a bit of stock on hand, at least for items like the Nikon Z8, or Canon R5. I doubt they have as many Hasselblad X2D, or Leica SL3 camera in stock. The way I understand the tariff is that stock on hand in the US at the time of the tariff is not effected, but once new product is ordered to replace it, the tariff goes into effect.

I saw a post from my Phase One dealer which implied they would take the last orders from customers today, the 4th without a tariff applied. Anything that ships out on the 7th will have the tariff. Not sure if they understand that the tariff’s don’t apply till the 9th. However as most of their product is not in stock and orders for the product as placed when the customer orders, they will be hit by the tariffs sooner than the larger retailers like B&H.

Sad state of affairs for the US, as historically tariffs never help, just create more isolation between nations.