Broadfield Tariff Statement
By Jamie G
As we all know, tariffs are the hot topic in Washington DC and around the globe. Almost every meeting we had during NAB2025 was hijacked by tariffs. Then, before we even left Vegas, word came out that President Trump was granting every country except China a 90 day pause. A week later and things are even more confusing.
Almost all of the PTZ cameras and gear we sell has some or all Chinese components. What frustrates me the most is that we never built video cameras or PTZ cameras in the USA. They were all made initially in Japan and moved from there to China or other Asian countries for cheaper production. So, if the excessive tariffs on iPhones can be lifted, the same exemptions should be given to video cameras, PTZ cameras and LED Videowalls. They were never made in the USA and without an extensive supply chain of key components, will never be built here. No US jobs were lost and none can be gained.
Now we are in a most puzzling and frustrating situation, as some of our vendors are saying that they can ship units to us before tariffs hit. Many are telling us that price increases of 10% or more are coming, but they don’t know when. Others are saying they will absorb tariffs until May 1st, or the 15th or the 31st,. but they don’t know how much prices will go up after that. Some vendors are proposing new price lists, while others are wanting to add a tariff line item to each product. It is a mess.
Broadfield is always committed to doing our best to make it easy to do business, even during this uncertain and ever changing period. Here’s our plan:
- We are committed to providing you with updated pricing or tariff fees information as soon as we get it. Which is why we are setting up the hashtag #Tariff on our blog and social media posts.
- Trying to secure as much pre-tariff inventory as we can.
- Working with our vendors to come up with tariff solutions that share the pain and minimize the impact on you and your customers.
- We are working diligently with our vendors to understand their supply chains and to ensure we can get you the products you need, when you need them. Although they may or may not have tariffs on them.
- We are urging you to get your deal registrations submitted or updated and make us aware of any large opportunities you are working on, so that we can fight for you and your customers – with the hope of getting your deal grandfathered. We can’t make any promises, but I can assure you we will fight for you, and on the flipside, we can’t fight for any deals we do not know about.
In the end we are all at the mercy of these global negotiations. Eventually things will get settled and we can all move on in the new “normal”. Until then Broadfield Distributing will do everything possible to help you get through this and maintain your profitability and revenues. We will keep making it easy to do business!