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LEADER: Duty Calls

Sam Inglis By Sam Inglis
Published February 2025

Duty Calls

For as long as I can remember, British musicians have been indignantly complaining about the high prices of gear imported from the USA. “How is it fair that this thing costs the same number of pounds as it does dollars?” we cry, conveniently forgetting that shipping things across the Atlantic costs money, that the distributors who handle this need to get paid, and that UK prices include 20 percent value added tax. No doubt Americans feel equally wounded when they try to buy a Coles 4038.

By the time you read this, the US will have a President who seems to favour protectionism. It’s not entirely clear whether Donald Trump sees tariffs as an economic good in themselves, or merely as a tool with which to pressure other governments, but there’s little doubt about his willingness to introduce them. If he does, the principal targets will be massive industries such as cars, food, chemicals and semiconductors. And, being far too small to merit any special attention, the music tech business will find itself arbitrarily rolled up into some larger category such as consumer electronics or leisure goods.

It’s quite hard to predict how this will play out in practice. On paper, tariffs could benefit manufacturers who actually do make their gear in the USA — but if retaliatory tariffs from other territories mean it costs more to import parts and export finished products, those benefits might turn out to be illusory. A lot may depend on the exact wording and scope of tariff rulings. Will products that are ‘assembled in America’ be exempt from import taxes that apply to products made in China? Will the prices of SMD components shoot up as a result?

Forward‑thinking manufacturers have already tried to mitigate possible outcomes here. I know of at least one company that has moved their manufacturing base elsewhere in South-East Asia, in anticipation of probable tariffs on Chinese‑made goods. Some non‑US makers are also buying up or developing manufacturing capacity in the USA.

If you’ve had your eye on that boutique US‑made mic preamp or Japanese synth, this might just be a good time to click Check Out.

It may be that the looming tariff war turns out to be a nothingburger, and that Trump is more interested in negotiating from a position of strength than in taxing imports. But it could be that we are about to enter a period of instability in international trade, and if that happens, the prices of imported equipment seem likely to rise. Taking into account the additional burden posed by the EU’s new GPSR Directive, it may even become uneconomic for some smaller manufacturers to sell to Europe. So, if you’ve had your eye on that boutique US‑made mic preamp or Japanese synth, this might just be a good time to click Check Out.

Sam Inglis Editor In Chief