Tariffs - Have they, or, will they impact your business?

[MailGuru]

We may not see increase in prices. We may see decreases.

I can't see this as actually ever happening. Even if manufacturing moves to the US as intended, it won't happen overnight. It's going to take years for those factories to be built. The companies that build them are going to want to keep prices high to, at least, recoup their building and implementation costs. And even if all this happens, the factories are built and the stars align and miraculously it costs you less to produce your product are you going to lower your price to the consumer? For instance, they've been paying $1.50 per square foot for a 4 color banner for the last 5 years. Now that you can produce them cheaper, are you going to lower your price to $1.30 per square foot? I think not! As a business, you're going to keep your price the same and pocket the profit. Businesses answer to the owners and stockholders, NOT the consumers.

Trump’s plan has always been to just get everyone to drop their tariffs against us, to get to a true free trade situation with no subsidy of others by America.

IMHO, "free trade" is a myth. It has never existed before, and, probably never will. It's important for you to realize that "tariffs" are not necessarily about money, or, equality. Different countries have different requirements with regard to environmental regulations, emissions, health and safety. But, not to impede an individual's freedom, they will allow you to import non-compliant products, but, you will have to pay a tariff to get them to offset the damage you are doing. Here in the States, think "cigarette taxes".

Vietnam, India, Israel have all dropped their tariffs against us and possible Canada.

Ummmm, not according to the chart that Trump displayed on his speech last night. Check it out for yourself!

I'm not anti-Trump. I'm not pro-Trump either. I'm not Republican and I'm not Democrat. If you wanted to put me in a party, I'd say I belong to the party of Common Sense. I truly hope you're right about what he's doing, 'cause, if you're wrong, he just started the biggest financial disaster in global history.

 

[Stickman42]

Ummmm, not according to the chart that Trump displayed on his speech last night. Check it out for yourself!

I hadn't heard about this until this thread happened, but here's an example:

Israel canceling all tariffs on US products

Israel is lifting all tariffs being imposed on U.S. products, a move that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says will have economic and strategic benefits.

www.foxbusiness.com

 

[MailGuru]

I’ll never understand why things have to be that way as you would think that people, as smart as they are, would at least have plenty of common sense.

To quote @gordo : "Common sense isn't common at all"

 

[tngcas]

To quote @gordo : "Common sense isn't common at all"

I used to believe common sense was at least... achievable with some explanation. Then I spent 8000 emails trying to explain to people that a 8.5in x 11in file doesn't scale down to 5.5in x 8.5in magically. I think my success rate on that "common sense" is at about 15%.

 

[SheetSqueezer]

To quote @gordo : "Common sense isn't common at all"

‘Common sense’ is the kind of sense that’s commonly found, unfortunately, almost everywhere you go.

‘Good sense’, however, now that might be something completely different.

 

[smalloffsetpressexperts]

Here is my view for the Libs

 

[narseman]

Things are working out just as Trump planned, while the media around the world tries to scare everyone.

EXACTLY.. Already a large number of companies are pledging and actually moving to.. Bring production back to USA.

 

[narseman]

The words that aren't being said:

The United States needs a drastic revitalization of manufacturing talent and knowledge. Unfortunately, in order to get these jobs stateside, we need to rip off a few band-aids. Some of that are these reciprocal tariffs. While this may produce a bit of pain, the improvement of manufacturing knowledge for millenials and zoomers is necessary to keep the US relevant, especially as technology like Tesla's Optimus becomes ubiquitous throughout the world. It will be rather trivial in 10 years to produce a humanoid robot, while right now it is seen as nigh impossible (but there are many companies working on this, and making great headway). So, with the cheapest available labor, manufacturing should become hyperlocal, thus if we don't know how to do certain things here in the US, it will have drastic consequences as the robots (non-US made) will fill in and supplement existing manufacturing facilities abroad. Tesla will be making millions upon millions of humanoid robots before 2030. This is a certainty, not a possibility. This is a good thing for the US, so the next time some retard tells you Tesla is bad, do yourself a favor and find out which company makes the cars with the most US-sourced parts. The same will be true for their Optimus robots. They will be a HUGE competitive advantage for the United States.

Regarding price decreases:

If energy prices fall dramatically, which they likely will, that will bring down prices in a big way. The cost to transport something is large portion of the bottomline cost.

Also, I think we're about to see the USD rally extremely hard versus other local currencies, and the death of most fiat currencies. The US is a gigantic consumer economy, and producer countries often employ a strategy of weakening their own currency to ensure their producers stay competitive vs other producer countries in the market of selling products to our consumer economy. That's obviously a complicated thing to explain, but this tariff action starts to make all of them much less competitive than they have been, and incentivizes US-based production. If a country starts to export substantially less than they were previously...

Overall, this needed to be done. Yes, there will be consequences, but we will find out a way to navigate things, just like we did during COVID when paper mills started converting to board manufacturing.

Perfectly said PN. USA has been constipated for decades, and the "medications" from our gov have all been sold on the black market. (They been stealing our tax money by the millions and billions) But like any constipation, there will be a little pain, but a 'UGE relief when it all comes out. This absolutely needed to happen, or the country would be lost for a very long time.

 

[Broncos100]

Received this letter from our paper vendor...

 

[KopyBoss]

We just received invoice from Xerox for maintenance and supplies that includes a Tariff Recovery Surcharge

 

[gordo]

We just received invoice from Xerox for maintenance and supplies that includes a Tariff Recovery Surcharge

It is good that they are being transparent about the reason for the increased cost.

 

[narseman]

CNN
https://www.cnn.com › 2025 › 04 › 09 › business › reciprocal-tariff-pause-trump › index.html

Trump announces 90-day pause on 'reciprocal' tariffs with exception of ...​

Apr 9, 2025President Donald Trump announced a complete pause on all the "reciprocal" tariffs that went into effect at midnight, with the exception of China. Where are you getting stuff from, that charged for tariffs?

 

[MailGuru]

I believe that's the "reciprocal" tariffs. The original 25% (or 10%) across the board tariffs for every country is still in effect.

Xerox had better be careful, though. Jeff Bezos at Amazon is in deep poopy for doing the exact same thing. The Whitehouse called it "an act of war".

 

[gordo]

CNN
https://www.cnn.com › 2025 › 04 › 09 › business › reciprocal-tariff-pause-trump › index.html

Trump announces 90-day pause on 'reciprocal' tariffs with exception of ...​

Apr 9, 2025President Donald Trump announced a complete pause on all the "reciprocal" tariffs that went into effect at midnight, with the exception of China. Where are you getting stuff from, that charged for tariffs?

This whole debacle reminds of the phenomenon of firefighters starting fires so that they can take credit for putting the fire out:

Firefighters who start fires: a look at the phenomenon of 'firefighter arson'

Sometimes it’s for the thrill, sometimes it’s so they can be a hero. There are several cases of firefighters who start fires, a phenomenon officially called “firefi…

edmontonjournal.com

 

[MailGuru]

I stand corrected:

"The Trump administration on Tuesday lashed out at Amazon, after a report that the e-commerce giant would begin telling its customers how much President Donald Trump’s tariffs are raising the prices they pay. Amazon soon clarified that such a proposal was under consideration for part of its business, but not its main website — and that nothing has been implemented."

-Washington Post

Still, Xerox will be poking the bear if they continue on this path..........

 

[tngcas]

There's an easy way for Xerox to avoid Tariffs... they could figure out how to make/source their toner in the USA instead of overseas. They would have better control of their supply chains then but they've insisted on having an incredibly complicated and problematic supply chain for many years now in the pursuit of money and at the expense of their customer base. I won't do business with them again over this issue (specifically toner/drums). In Nov/Dec 2021 our shop literally could not get toner or supplies for almost 7 weeks.

Xerox stopped returning our phone calls and did absolutely nothing to help us during that time. They never compensated us for that loss of business and service. We could easily have gone out of business due to their incompetence. If it weren't for Canon who brought in a machine in 7 days and allowed us to drive to their main showroom with our jobs and paper and use their showroom printers to continue production... I'm not sure what we would have done.

Anyways. No love lost here due to Xerox and their incompetent supply chain. They can blame P. Trump but they set themselves up for failure again and again and refuse to learn their lessons and fix their supply chains. Do not have your eggs in one basket on critical supply chain issues that affect your customer base. If you are a print shop you should absolutely be evaluating your vendor's supply chains when considering signing a lease/maintenance agreement. Know what the risks are and possible points of failure. If their supply chain is unstable and you're at their mercy for your business operations then plan ahead for options to quickly shift operations if you have to. At the very least, if you are a larger company, consider having multiple vendors.

End of my rant. LOL

 

[KopyBoss]

Xerox charged tariff recovery surcharge on a software maintenance plan. I understand if the toner was imported and they charge, but for
software that is already installed on a machine they didn't have any import fees. We received this from Xerox;

April 29, 2025

Important Update: Impact of New Tariffs


Dear Valued Client,

At Xerox, we are committed to delivering the highest quality products and services while maintaining strong partnerships with our clients and channel partners. As global trade regulations continue to shift, we want to be transparent about how we are addressing the recent increases in U.S. import tariffs.

Due to a significant rise in import tariffs implemented in March on some costs for equipment, parts, and supplies, we will be adding a tariff surcharge to affected invoices, beginning May 1st. Federal, State & Local clients will be contacted by your Sales team separately if the surcharge applies to your contract. Please know this decision was not made lightly.

Our top priority remains our clients and partners, ensuring the quality and competitiveness of our products while continuing to provide the exceptional service you expect from us. We continue to closely monitor the impacts of potential trade regulations and are actively working to minimize disruptions for our clients and partners. Tariff surcharges may fluctuate based on the trade restrictions imposed. In the event the tariffs are lifted, we will discontinue the tariff surcharge. In the meantime, our sales and service delivery teams are ready to answer your questions.

We view this challenge as an opportunity to expand our flexibility and deeply appreciate your business and partnership. Your trust and support mean everything to us, and we remain committed to helping you succeed. We look forward to continuing to serve you.

 

[smalloffsetpressexperts]

Trump is right, America needs manufacturing. I have preached buy American for years. If I lived in Canada I would support that country. Trade is good if FAIR. Trump did not tell you to buy a Xerox that depends on other countries to keep running or Proprietary supplies made elsewhere. Perhaps if you signed a contract Xerox has to eat the cost?

 

[TJPrinter]

I stand corrected:

"The Trump administration on Tuesday lashed out at Amazon, after a report that the e-commerce giant would begin telling its customers how much President Donald Trump’s tariffs are raising the prices they pay. Amazon soon clarified that such a proposal was under consideration for part of its business, but not its main website — and that nothing has been implemented."

-Washington Post

Still, Xerox will be poking the bear if they continue on this path..........

There's an easy way for Xerox to avoid Tariffs... they could figure out how to make/source their toner in the USA instead of overseas. They would have better control of their supply chains then but they've insisted on having an incredibly complicated and problematic supply chain for many years now in the pursuit of money and at the expense of their customer base. I won't do business with them again over this issue (specifically toner/drums). In Nov/Dec 2021 our shop literally could not get toner or supplies for almost 7 weeks.

Xerox stopped returning our phone calls and did absolutely nothing to help us during that time. They never compensated us for that loss of business and service. We could easily have gone out of business due to their incompetence. If it weren't for Canon who brought in a machine in 7 days and allowed us to drive to their main showroom with our jobs and paper and use their showroom printers to continue production... I'm not sure what we would have done.

Anyways. No love lost here due to Xerox and their incompetent supply chain. They can blame P. Trump but they set themselves up for failure again and again and refuse to learn their lessons and fix their supply chains. Do not have your eggs in one basket on critical supply chain issues that affect your customer base. If you are a print shop you should absolutely be evaluating your vendor's supply chains when considering signing a lease/maintenance agreement. Know what the risks are and possible points of failure. If their supply chain is unstable and you're at their mercy for your business operations then plan ahead for options to quickly shift operations if you have to. At the very least, if you are a larger company, consider having multiple vendors.

End of my rant. LOL

Xerox makes EA toner at a 150,000 sf facility located in Rochester New York, United States

 

[prepressdork]

I will likely see a price increase on my plates, plate chemistry, and proofing papers as they are manufactured in Germany.