Trump Tariffs Threaten To Double Electronic Music Gear Prices
President Trump introduced new import tariffs in early April
The last week has been a bumpy ride for anyone following the Trump administration’s plans for increasing taxes imposed on imported goods.
President Trump announced a wide range of import tariffs in early April, driven by his goal to get greater cooperation on fighting Fentanyl abuse in the US, and to address administration concerns over trade imbalances with countries around the world.
Tariffs are taxes that US companies and individuals pay when they purchase goods from targeted countries.
As of today, it appears that the administration is reversing course on its plans for high ‘reciprocal tariffs’, and instead setting tariffs on imports from most countries to 10%. Meanwhile, they’ve raised tariffs from on Chinese imports to 145%.
Unfortunately, the high tariff rate threatens to double the cost of synthesizers and electronic music gear imported from China, and to dramatically increase the prices of US-made gear, too.
Uli Behringer displayed several new polysynth designs at the 2025 NAMM Show. US tariffs of 145% threaten to double the cost of synths imported from China.
Synth prices jumped notably earlier in the year, when Chinese import tariffs were around 30%. Since then, tariffs on Chinese imports been raised to 84%, 104%, and now a total of 145%.
While this promises to more than double the cost of electronic music gear imported from China, it also is forcing US manufacturers to raise their prices.
US synth makers get most of their parts and PCBs from China, and they’re seeing their parts cost jump 145%.
A related issue is that US manufacturers can’t predict what their costs will be in a month. One manufacture noted that they’d made a PCB order a month ago, and now that it’s about to ship, their cost will be more than double what they’d planned, because of the higher tariff rates.
This unpredictably is leading some US gear companies to pause manufacturing, because the new tariffs will make their pricing too high for their customers. Some manufactures plan on taking a ‘wait and see’ approach, hoping that the administration’s tariff plans will settle down, so that the companies can do long-term manufacturing and marketing planning.
The administration has also announced plans to increase taxes and duties on ‘de minimus’ purchases of $800 or less:
Sec. 3. De Minimis Tariff Increase. To ensure that the imposition of tariffs pursuant to section 2 of this order is not circumvented and that the purpose of Executive Order 14257 and this action is not undermined, I also deem it necessary and appropriate to:
(a) increase the ad valorem rate of duty set forth in section 2(c)(i) of Executive Order 14256 from 30 percent to 90 percent;
(b) increase the per postal item containing goods duty in section 2(c)(ii) of Executive Order 14256 that is in effect on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on May 2, 2025, and before 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on June 1, 2025, from 25 dollars to 75 dollars; and
(c) increase the per postal item containing goods duty in section 2(c)(ii) of Executive Order 14256 that is in effect on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on June 1, 2025, from 50 dollars to 150 dollars.
Are the administration’s evolving tariff rates changing your buying plans? Share your thoughts in the comments.
