Up or down, on or off: Tariffs

By far the most important question our customers have is, “will we have a good winter”?

There are other important questions, such as “how do the new Fischer Speedmax boots fit?”, or “are any of the new glide waxes as good as fluoro?”.

Another question of priority is, “what will the tariffs do to pricing”? And for that one I think it may be easier to predict the winter weather.

Here’s what we know – products from the EU will have a 15% tariff. Products from China will have a 30% tariff (most ski poles come from China).

But there is a court challenge about the tariffs that will eventually go all the way to the Supreme Court, but until then the tariffs stay in place until October 1. After that, who knows…they could stay in place abd if found legal they could go up or down, and if found to be the responsibility of Congress and the tariffs are not reinstated, the tariffs that were collected could or should be refunded. I feel more assured about NOAA’s prediction of an early La Nina winter.

What about the immediate impact on pricing?

Tariffs are calculated on the claimed value what an importer brings in, not the retail or wholesale price. So, the 15% on EU imports will not translate to a 15% retail price increase. In some situations, the retail pricing will not go up because the importer and the retailer will absorb some of the price increases; expect this to occur on lower priced items such as ski waxes. The ski and boot companies, in almost every case, have already imported much of their inventory and as such have had to pay the tariffs.

Most of our suppliers are not making price changes immediately but have informed us that this can change at any time; uncertainty is delaying action. Fischer has increased their pricing anywhere from 5% to 8%. Rex is keeping prices steady until October 1, at which point the prices go up 2%-4%.

In regards to uncertainty, I feel most hopeful about decent snowfall.