Tariffs and Scuba Gear: Undercurrent 05/2025

Tariffs and Scuba Gear

and a tip on your border crossings

from the May, 2025 issue of Undercurrent

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For dive stores and manufacturers, current tariff rules are confusing and unpredictable, with no way to know what tomorrow will bring. What impact will it have on your purchases? Should you buy now? How can one decide?

There is no easy answer. Tariffs (duties) are taxes on raw materials and finished products entering the U.S.; the buyer, not the seller, or the shipper, or the nation from which they are shipped, is responsible. The importer pays the tariff.

United States Customs officials determine the value of the arriving goods, compute the tariff (which is a tax), and release the goods once the importer (i.e., the owner) pays the U.S. government. Tariffs are based on the cost of the goods entering, excluding what the importer has paid for shipping and insurance (though they remain the owner's expenses). For example, consider a camera entering the U.S. with the value of $100 (plus his shipping and insurance); a 50 percent tariff adds $50 to the price the owner/importer has paid, and most, if not all, of that is figured into what they charge the distributor or retailer. Ultimately, the individual consumer pays all or part of the tariff....

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