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I'm returning to my pet peeve, Trump's tariffs. We've seen headlines about 10% on British stuff, 15% on EU and much higher rates for many Asian countries. Yet, scanning official registers, it looks like the baseline tariff for much music gear remains zero per cent, with 35% levied on countries with which USA doesn't have any trade agreement. No mention of UK or EU. Trade negotiations with EU were just resumed after a two-month pause.
On grassroots level, a NY friend of mine claims he recently imported four guitars from China - no customs duties. On the other hand, many postal services still refuse to deliver anything except letters and documents to USA. No Xmas parcels. At the top of the power pyramid, the US Supreme Court was supposed to issue verdict on the legality of the tariffs in November. Not many days left.
To quote a Finnish phrase, I have my own cow in the ditch. USA was the main market for Toob and Metro cabs until August. The language on tariffs and their implementation sounded so hostile that I decided to stay away from the minefield. Now I'm struggling. A tenderfoot for nothing?
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11-24-2025 04:55 PM
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The U.S. Supreme Court began deliberations on Trump's tariff policy case in November, not sure when they will actually rule on it. However, I believe it is not tariffs per se but the elimination of the de minimis exemption on smaller value imports that affects your business so, sorry to say, what the Supreme Court decides may not matter to you.*
the-end-of-de-minimis-exemption-meaning-for-your-business
* Correction: I was mistaken, it appears the tariff lawsuit does apply to the de minimis exemption.
"A major lawsuit that was filed against President Trump’s tariffs also applies to the suspension of the de minimis exemption, which had previously allowed duty-free entry for packages valued at up to $800.
The plaintiff in the lawsuit argued that the Trump administration’s suspension of this exemption was part of its "drastic and unlawful" trade policies. While some tariffs have been challenged, the suspension of the de minimis exemption is still in place pending the outcome of related litigation.
The lawsuit's connection to de minimis: The lawsuit, brought by Detroit Axle, argues the administration's ending of the de minimis exemption was "existential" to its business model, which relied on importing and fulfilling low-value orders from China.
Legal status: The lawsuit's litigation is currently on hold, awaiting a decision from the Supreme Court on related challenges to the administration’s "emergency" duties.
Current impact: The suspension of the de minimis exemption remains in effect, meaning tariffs are now applied to low-value imports that were previously exempt.
Legal basis for the suspension: The administration’s executive order cites the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to justify the end of the de minimis exemption, which was intended to combat issues like drug trafficking and counterfeit goods."
Last edited by Mick-7; 11-24-2025 at 05:40 PM.
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I haven't but I am waiting to see what happens with the tariffs. Hopefully, they will go away.
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Loss of the exemption has trashed my business.
Yes, you will pay 15 percent from the EU and if its UPS or DHL there is a processing fee of around 20-25 bucks.
Its sad, Im from the US but living in Europe. We pay tariffs in the EU but we actually get something for our tax dollars (health care for one).
Tariffs are the largest tax increase on Americans in my lifetime and a third of all Americans sadly think they are sticking it to the rest of the world when they are really paying taxes on almost everything since almost nothing is entirely American made (components and materials sourced worldwide).
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I am considering a special (to me) Strat copy from EU. Not sure yet, and haven't yet looked into the specifics about fees/charges.
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You had health care long before the EU put their snout in your trough and took an extra 20%.
Originally Posted by Sigmund451
Btw the EU are now going to charge VAT in imported goods under the previously exempt limit. Another thumb in the eye to small business’s so they can have another boozy lunch.
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Anyone know what the import fees would be like importing a used guitar from Japan? Sometimes Ishibashi has some cool stuff. Loosely curious about this. I'm assuming it will be 15% tariff + ~9% import duties.
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I paid 29 bucks for a Klon clone, and a neck I'm looking at from Canada has no excess charges.
We'll be fine.
And on the "you never hear good news on the news" front... I was surprised to see that because of tariffs, JZ microphones will now be manufacturing microphones here in America. If you looks, you'll actually see many companies have announced manufacturing plans have changed so they will be built in America.
That's good news.
This is a problem that was decades in the making. We're going to need multiple administrations who are dedicated to rebuilding our country instead of shipping our middle class overseas.
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stop the madness
i've seen no new " tariff" , just no exemption of <$800. from japan it's 15 percent.....just like before .
import duty and tariff are not the same thing . i've imported instruments before and after the revision.
it's been 15percent since i can remember.
there's tariffs on specific goods...cars, steel, computer parts, etc to maintain fair trade . customs duties are import taxes.
it's not that big of an issue....in georgia , usa.... if you buy direct from japan you don't pay local sales tax,as you would
buying through Reverb or Ebay ...so 15 percent becomes 7percent tax . cheaper than local......but you still have to pay
massive shipping costs...as always.
things change daily...please correct me if they have .
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Originally Posted by chris32895
Originally Posted by arnoldziffel
I was thinking about getting a westville from Misaki sometime soon and was wondering about tariffs as well. In CA i had to pay a "use tax" for my Moffa that was made in Italy. I wasn't aware of this tax and they found me 2 years after i bought the guitar and had it shipped to me. CA clowns sent the bill to an old address that I havent lived at for 11 years, they know where i live. i pay taxes lol. Never saw it and it incurred late fees, which i got out of because of address failure on their part. but the use tax fee was around $400
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Right, but the elimination of this de minimis exemption is a very big deal to Gitterbug and many other small business people because most if not all of their items sell for less than $800. Originally Posted by arnoldziffel
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Americans say they want manufacturing back in the US and yet 400,000 manufacturing jobs at present time are not being filled.It sounds good to make things in the US until people find out that the product is going to cost more because of having to pay American workers a higher wage to make said product.I was talking to a shopowner who sells toys and she told me she tried to have the toys made in America but the cost was so prohibitive that she has to have them made in China if she wants to make a profit. Originally Posted by vintagelove
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According to official data, there was (is?) no tariff on Class 851821, i.e. single loudspeakers in an enclosure. Correct me if I'm wrong, but with zero tariff, the de minimis exemption played no role other than relieving the workload of customs officials. Sure, it opened the way of millions of small parcels from China & al. to the US each day. My largest shipment to the US was invoiced for over USD 2,500. The recipient never reported any duties.
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Not sure what your question is but this may help: Harmonized Tariff Schedule Originally Posted by Gitterbug
Yes, they kissed Trump's ring and made made vague, noncomittal promises to get tariff relief from him, but will they ever actually build and operate such plants? It's highly unlikely, since the U.S. has neither the necessary infrastructure, work force, or economic stability (with the current debt driven economy *), to support them. Originally Posted by vintagelove
* US government debt is now at $38 trillion and growing at the rate of $1 trillion every 100 days.
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Mick, there was no question. I was actually referring to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, which for Class 8512.21 (single loudspeakers in their enclosures) gives "Free 1/" except for 35% for particular countries. Now AI says the following:
The term "Free 1/" in U.S. tariffs refers to a specific tariff rate found in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) of the United States that indicates a 0% duty, meaning the imported good is duty-free. This can be due to a country's eligibility for preferential treatment under a free trade agreement, such as the de minimis exemption for goods under a certain value, or "normal trade relations" status with the U.S. The "Free" signifies no tax or duty, while the "1/" simply indicates the first of multiple available rates for that tariff code.
Now I do have a question, owing to mi pobre inglés: what is that last sentence supposed to mean?
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Which sentence is that? - "normal trade relations"? Don't think that's possible anymore, there is nothing normal about the current U.S. administration. Originally Posted by Gitterbug
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Even if they could get real factory jobs in the US the next thing that would happen...and already is happinging is the destruction of labor unions.
Im not a conspiracy theorist but man, to me, it sure looks like certain someones are trying to get factory jobs back to the US AND create an underclass in order to provide cheap factory labor.
Add to that the mobilization against any affordable health care.
There is nothing nearly as effective as golden handcuffs...though really they are closer to tarnished brass.
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Buy less toys, you know, like people used to. This idea that we have to frantically spend every penny on cheap items to live, is a modern invention. Originally Posted by nyc chaz
It likely does a good job of lowering inflation but it shipped our jobs overseas and now people are on the streets dying, people aren’t having children.
My generation will be the first generation to be poorer than the previous one in modern history.
Pensions turned out to be a ponzi scheme, the west is up to its eye balls in debt.
Consume less, pay more for the fewer things you buy, save some money and vote for whoever will reduce government spending your money.
Seemed to work before.
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When? Originally Posted by Archie
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I recently shipped a guitar from Japan to US. This was during the period where UPS was in the news for destroying some uncleared packages, so I shipped via FedEx (a more expensive option). Ultimately I was billed 15% of the total price + shipping, which turned a great deal into just a fair price.
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I was recently in conversation with Paul Herman of Wal Basses (located in UK) about a potential custom build -- after a 4.5 year wait, my name came up in his queue -- and after a bit of back & forth and a lot of soul-searching on my part, I eventually decided not to proceed.
Most of my reasoning had nothing to do with tariffs/import duties...but I can't deny that some of my reasoning was directly due to the fact that the cost of the tariffs alone on this bass would have exceeded the total price I paid for several of the instruments I already own!
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From 1945 to about 1985? When countries seemed to be run on common sense. Originally Posted by Cunamara
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Hmm. WWII. Chinese Communist Revolution. Korean War. Vietnam War. Indo-Pakistani War. Palestinian Civil War. Arab-Israeli War. Cuban Civil War. Taiwan Strait Crises. Sudanese Civil War. Suez Crisis. Bay of Pigs. Iraqi-Kurdish War. Six Day War. War of Attrition. Warsaw Pact Invasion of Czechoslovakia. The (Irish) Troubles. Yom Kippur War. Iran-Iraq War. Falklands War. And that's just a fraction of the wars and armed conflicts 1945-1985. We won't even get into the systematic denial of civil rights and women's rights, the cynical self-poisoning of our planet, the control of our governments by the ultrawealthy for their sole benefit (or those hoping to become the ultrawealthy). Originally Posted by Archie
The point of this depressing exercise is that countries have never been run on common sense in that era or any other. And yet humans mostly remain optimistic, a crucial quality.
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My comment was clearly based on domestic issues, modern monetary theory, tax and spend and modern consumerism. Originally Posted by Cunamara
WWII happened before 1945.
You forgot to throw in the 'West Papua war of 1963’. A visceral reminder of Margaret Thatchers efforts to sell council houses at discount rates in the 1980’s.
I entered this thread against my better judgement and I think it's finally kicked in.Last edited by Archie; 11-27-2025 at 05:08 PM.
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Not, actually, at all clearly. My apologies for not keeping a handy wall chart about where various posters live and to what they might therefore be referring. Originally Posted by Archie
The larger point stands, which is that if one thinks that life was somehow simpler, easier or more wonderful at some point in the past then one is simply wrong. Life is hard, has always been that way, and generally used to be harder in the past than today. Although if one is American, the Trump Administration seems to be doing its level best to bankrupt as many people as possible. At the moment, life here is harder than it was a year ago for most of us as we careen towards our new gold-plated age.
WW II ended May 1945 in Europe and September 1945 in the Pacific. The UK had rationing until 1954, the last nation in Europe to end the scheme..WWII happened before 1945.
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