US consumers face increased prices for e-drums, especially entry-level instruments, as President Donald Trump’s recent tariff moves take effect.
Chinese imports were already taxed, and the new measures bring the impost to 20% of the value of the imported items.
Experts like the US National Retail Federation point out that tariffs are a tax on imported goods and are paid for by the importer. “Retailers are forced to choose between raising their prices or relying on already slim profit margins to absorb the increased cost of inventory,” according to the trade group.
And the latest tariffs may not be the last, as a trade war has been unleashed, with China quickly announcing plans to levy 15% retaliatory tariffs on some US imports.
Analysis by the Peterson Institute for International Economics explains that trade in musical instruments is dominated by a small set of exporters and importers with large marketshares, with China and Indonesia topping the export sources.
The situation is even more strained by the fact that the United States, a large exporter itself, is one of the biggest importers of instruments from the Asian manufacturing giants.
“The implications of Trump’s tariffs for the US musical instrument market are straightforward: It will have limited impact on high-end instruments but will increase prices significantly for beginner and student models. These models are overwhelmingly made in China and are precisely the models the musical instrument industry relies on to create its consumer base of the future,” says analyst Cullen S. Hendrix.
He predicts that production may shift to other countries, with Indonesia being a likely candidate to pick up marketshare. Roland some time ago switched much of its production from China to Malaysia.
Hendrix adds that shifting production may not help as manufacturing costs could still be 10 to 20% higher than they would have been otherwise, “and the costs of reorienting these supply chains and moving production out of China to avoid US tariffs will be absorbed by consumers – not just in the United States, but the world over”.
His final warning is that Trump’s move will especially hurt lower income households and school music programs that need a reliable supply of relatively inexpensive instruments.
Brands likely to be affected by the tariffs include Alesis, ddrum, Donner, Efnote, KAT, Lemon and Simmons – and digitalDrummer has reached out to these companies for more information on their strategies to cope with the added costs.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Music Merchandisers (NAMM), which represents US music instrument manufacturers, importers and retailers, is urging its members to lobby their Members of Congress to overturn the tariffs.
One exemption to the tariffs is personal imports, where customers are able to import items to the value of US$800 without incurring duties. Trump initially closed this loophole, but the “de minimis” has since been restored – at least until the administration works out how it will collect the tax.