Several vendors are preparing to stockpile inventory in anticipation of greater tariffs on Chinese goods, as President Elect Donald Trump has indicated.
Some vendors said they have already placed deeper orders and others plan to increase inventory after the Chinese New Year, which starts on January 29.
Brands including Cerwin Vega/Diamond, Cicada, Epsilon and LinksWell are among those saying they are loading in inventory.
“We have a ton of purchase orders. Whether they beat the tariff or not is another thing,” said Ronnie Brashear of Epsilon, noting that orders may not reach US shores before new tariffs are imposed.
Cicada’s Ron Trout said the company is loading in inventory. “We’re definitely taking an inventory position, not just for the tariffs but because of the the growth we’ve experienced. We were on such a growth trajectory, we pretty much air freighted every amplifier we sold last year. We were finally able to catch up in November with containers coming in.”
“Yes, we are stockpiling,” said LinksWell’s Walt Detlefsen. “I placed a huge order this month to get it in, hopefully, before the tariffs hit and the Chinese New Year…”
One supplier however, noted, “To stockpile equipment in this economy and the way car audio is, could just be suicide for some businesses because to spend all this money up front and hope business will hold and the tariffs will hit is a risk.”
President elect Donald Trump’s November statement on tariffs called for 25 percent tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada (until they curb drugs coming into the US), and an additional 10 percent tariff “above any additional tariffs” on Chinese imports.
In the past Trump has called for a 60 percent tariff on goods from China. You will remember that car audio goods already carry tariffs between 7.5 percent and, at one point, up to 30 percent on items from China from the last round of tariffs in 2018.
The stockpiling is all the more significant in that until recently, suppliers were still working their way through an excess of inventory following the pandemic.
