Canon USA Pricing To Increase Due to Tariffs?

[Canon Rumors]

On April 2, the United States Government announced a 24% tariff on Japan. The tariff is scheduled to come into place on April 9, 2025. If and when it does, that will increase the cost of goods imported to the United States from Japan by 24%.

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[AlanF]

A 24% increase in US prices would bring them up to about what we pay in the UK. I wonder if the very high tariff on Chinese goods will be applied to Nikon and other products manufactured there?

 

[HMC11]

Given the current US adminstration's propensity for rapid policy changes, the future for price increases for Canon product is indeed uncertain. For all we know, the tariff could be reversed within months. Also, I assume the tariff is imposed on the import cost of the product, which should be lower than its retail price. As such, the increase in retail price should be lower than 24%. For instance, if the markup is 50%, then the retail increase would be around 16% assuming Canon does not opt to absorb part of the tariff to keep its product pricing competitive.

 

[Canon Rumors]

Given the current US adminstration's propensity for rapid policy changes, the future for price increases for Canon product is indeed uncertain. For all we know, the tariff could be reversed within months. Also, I assume the tariff is imposed on the import cost of the product, which should be lower than its retail price. As such, the increase in retail price should be lower than 24%. For instance, if the markup is 50%, then the retail increase would be around 16% assuming Canon does not opt to absorb part of the tariff to keep its product pricing competitive.

Unfortunately, the margins on cameras and lenses are very small. 9 to 12 points. A lot of retailers run on a negative operating margin on Canon camera and lens SKUs. Canon USA may eat a bit of it, but they are running on the same tight margins.

 

[neuroanatomist]

I’m wondering about preorders for the RF 20/1.4L VCM and R50 V… The PowerShot V1 ships on 08-Apr but the other recently announced new products ship on 28-Apr. I have no idea how just-in-time Canon runs their distribution but if the new products aren’t through customs before the tariffs take effect, I am curious about how Canon USA and retailers will handle preorders placed already.

 

[Canon Rumors]

I’m wondering about preorders for the RF 20/1.4L VCM and R50 V… The PowerShot V1 ships on 08-Apr but the other recently announced new products ship on 28-Apr. I have no idea how just-in-time Canon runs their distribution but if the new products aren’t through customs before the tariffs take effect, I am curious about how Canon USA and retailers will handle preorders placed already.

I will ask a couple of people about this. A lot of times retailers have the products a week or two in advance of the allowed ship date. If they have them, then Canon USA has them earlier.

 

[ValueTech]

Yeah, but that would only apply for the first shipment. According to my sources, especially the PowerShot V1 is in high demand and the backlog could take months to deliver. So maybe a few lucky once will have the shipment arrive ahead.

Stocks: Since they are expensive, don't expect large warehouse stocks. Premium cameras are usually air freight, volume products by ship. But customs is a difficult topic and you can clear a shipment (pay customs) in advance. So maybe a "PowerShot V1 container", somewhere on the pacific, is just fine in that regard.

But for the rest... I guess the V1 and R50 V are also produced in Taiwan (32 % tariff), like the original R50. In the end, it doesn't matter if it's 24 or 32 %: Neither Canon nor a retailer could make up that amount. So they will get more exppensive.

 

[David - Sydney]

Come to Australia
Canon pricing has been at or lower than the USA pricing for a while now (besides refurb).

Our government has ruled out retaliatory tariffs as it just increases local prices for imported goods and hurts our inflation. We even run a deficit with the USA for all that helped us.

Trumps government doesn’t like that ours negotiates a medicine subsidy scheme at a country level keeping pricing reasonable. If it isn’t in the scheme then they can charge what they like (and do so).
They also don’t like our bio security laws keeping diseases at bay from our island but the US loves our wagyu and Big Macs will cost more there too!

We will certainly not holiday in the US for a long time to come.

Perhaps wealthy US citizens will get a 24% tax cut so their costs will offset. No promises of that yet

 

[David - Sydney]

Stocks: Since they are expensive, don't expect large warehouse stocks. Premium cameras are usually air freight, volume products by ship. But customs is a difficult topic and you can clear a shipment (pay customs) in advance. So maybe a "PowerShot V1 container", somewhere on the pacific, is just fine in that regard.

But for the rest... I guess the V1 and R50 V are also produced in Taiwan (32 % tariff), like the original R50. In the end, it doesn't matter if it's 24 or 32 %: Neither Canon nor a retailer could make up that amount. So they will get more exppensive.

Don’t forget that trump has also increased fees for Chinese flagged or made ships docking in the US.

The proposed fee could top usd3m per port visit for stacking!

https://www.reuters.com/markets/tru...ompanies-maritime-executives-tell-2025-03-24/

 

[David - Sydney]

A 24% increase in US prices would bring them up to about what we pay in the UK. I wonder if the very high tariff on Chinese goods will be applied to Nikon and other products manufactured there?

Are you including the US state/city/county taxes?
They seem to vary significantly and hard to average/median. Most of the European vat rates are significantly above Australia’s 10%gst
https://thestc.com/strates.stm

 

[koenkooi]

I’m wondering about preorders for the RF 20/1.4L VCM and R50 V… The PowerShot V1 ships on 08-Apr but the other recently announced new products ship on 28-Apr. I have no idea how just-in-time Canon runs their distribution but if the new products aren’t through customs before the tariffs take effect, I am curious about how Canon USA and retailers will handle preorders placed already.

I hope that 28th date is global, I leave for a family vacation trip a few days after that

 

[Canon Rumors]

Two retail representatives currently have no clue about the effects, but they expect meetings with Canon USA reps very soon.

 

[amorse]

I think there's two parts to this to think about. The first is there will be a tariff cost on entry which may impact profitability if some/all of that is not passed on to the consumer. The second piece is competition with other brands - if Nikon is having to pay the higher Chinese rate, that means they may be forced to pass more on to the consumer. If that's the case, Canon may feel that they have more room to play with on margin - if their competitors are going to go up further to cover margin, they could either just gain a bit of a competitive advantage on price, but it could go the other way as well. Maybe Canon feels that their product is superior and it should cost more than Nikon. If that's the case, could Canon push higher than the Japanese tariff rate to be seen as being worth more than Nikon? The economics of trade are one thing, but the perception of consumers and competition may influence the decision as well.

I guess it also depends on how the relationship of sales works between the retailer and how the product moves from Canon Japan. If Canon USA is the importer of record, then Canon USA will be the one paying the tariff when it crosses the border. If they already have contracts with retail on price point, there could be some negotiation around who gives up margin or how much gets passed costs on to the customer.

On the other side of this, they may decide to change nothing and keep the price flat under the assumption that everything will change after another Executive Order, and choose instead not to go through all the work of changing pricing and just "see what happens" for a few weeks.

Bottom line, no-one knows what's coming next

 

[John Wilde]

Cameras are purchased with discretionary income. With the broad economic impact of tariffs there will be less of that for many people. It's too soon to tell, but I wouldn't be surprised if the camera industry tanked.

 

[neuroanatomist]

Cameras are purchased with discretionary income. With the broad economic impact of tariffs there will be less of that for many people. It's too soon to tell, but I wouldn't be surprised if the camera industry tanked.

Tank or not, it will mean a further shift to high end products. Over the past several years, the FF portion of ILC sales has gone from 10% to 25%. People with higher incomes will see a bigger absolute effect of the tariffs, but the relative reduction of their discretionary income will be much smaller. For me, the R1 could have been priced $1500 higher and I would not have blinked.

 

[frankchn]

Canon might well pause shipments of cameras for a few weeks until the dust clears.

 

[AlanF]

Tank or not, it will mean a further shift to high end products. Over the past several years, the FF portion of ILC sales has gone from 10% to 25%. People with higher incomes will see a bigger absolute effect of the tariffs, but the relative reduction of their discretionary income will be much smaller. For me, the R1 could have been priced $1500 higher and I would not have blinked.

Don't tell them that!!

 

[AlanF]

Are you including the US state/city/county taxes?
They seem to vary significantly and hard to average/median. Most of the European vat rates are significantly above Australia’s 10%gst
https://thestc.com/strates.stm

Loads of CR members in the US have posted over the years that they buy from B&H using their credit card and the store pays the taxes. The UK price stripped of VAT by 20% is usually way above the US tax-free price as I have posted a gazillion times. For example, the R5ii stripped of tax costs the equivalent of $4870 here compared with $3999 from B&H in New York, a 12% mark up here. The grey market price of the R5ii in the UK is £3000, ie $3900, inclusive of 20% tax.

 

[Canon Rumors]

Canon USA rep & senior meeting with at least two retailers on Monday.

If I get the tidbits that will come up in that meeting, I probably won't be allowed to write about it.

 

[Canon Rumors]

Canon might well pause shipments of cameras for a few weeks until the dust clears.

That's probably on the table. The White House phones must be getting a workout today.