Trump's tariffs

[JoeBlow]

How do you think Trump's new tariffs will affect the hobby? Purchasing quality new astro gear is already getting expensive. Some accessories I bought over the past 10 years appear to have almost doubled in price with today's prices. The new Nagler type 7 appear likely around $1200 AUD. Sadly it appears it will only get worse with the tariffs.

[Geochron]

lots of discussion of this on CN:

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/953360-likely-effect-of-increased-tariffs-on-astronomy-goods-prices/

of course they are much closer to the crazy guy than we are...

[doug mc]

Anything coming from an American company will go up in price. If your astro gear is imported from Asia directly and doesn't carry an American brand name you should be ok.

[JoeBlow]

That's everything Televue related. Plus many online stores with good stock of astro supplies are US based.



I think it's worse here with our exchange rate.

[AstralTraveller]

I'm not sure I follow. I don't think Aus putting tariffs on US goods. My first thought is that the effect will depend on what it does to the exchange rate.

[wavelandscott]

I suspect it will be case by case on the amount of tariff but anything that comes from the USA will increase in price.

Most anything that comes into the USA will pay a tariff (the size depends on the country)…a finished good, materials or parts.

Finished goods coming in…USA applies tariff…the price is higher and if you buy it from the USA you will pay a higher price (there is no duty drawback provision at this time)

Materials/parts come into the USA for manufacture/assembly…USA applied tariff…you buy it from the USA, you will pay a higher price…still no drawback

[Leo.G]

I got $0.59 through Paypal yesterday and a small focus motor and postage from the U.S.A. cost $98Au ($56US).
I know they import steel and aluminium from Aus, it's only going to increase manufacturing costs which in return will cost us more for anything coming in they've paid tariffs on. Their food is going to get dearer than our duopoly has it (nah, I'm joking, that could never happen).

[Startrek]

Fortunately I purchased all my Televue eye pieces , Powermates , Paracorr and accessories between 2016 and 2019.
I’d imagine they are out reach for most folk these days especially if your retired like me as the prices are only going to rise beyond ridiculous. Nowadays every time I want something it has to go past the minister for finance ( Wife ) for approval.
Don Whiteman at Bintel was a wealth of knowledge and huge help when I got started in the hobby , so glad I have my Televue gear especially the limited edition Apollo 11 eye piece.

[gregbradley]

Gear imported to Oz from USA no tariff (we aren’t charging USA a tariff.
If you buy from China no tariff so no change.
Where it gets complicated is parts made out of USA then
Imported into USA to make finished product. Then exported to Oz it’s at least the tariff of 10%.
But it might be more because alum/steel from Oz or Canada will cost more.

China may charge more as materials imported from USA costs more.
But then what Astro related material would China be buying from the USA?

Greg

[TrevorW]

I love the idea of reciprocal tariffs (not) but can't figure how a 10% tariff on Oz is that seeing we don't charge them any :)

[Geochron]

unfortunately there is no logic to any of this - even penguins on uninhabited islands received tariffs:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly8xlj0485o

would be funny if it wasn't so appalling..

[Drac0]

The issue is that while an item may be assembled in the US, how much of it needs to be imported in the first place. Aluminium, electronics, etc may be imported into the US first so you will be paying extra for those parts due to the tariffs increasing costs. Many things are going to increase here due to that, even if we don't have tariffs on the US.

Cheers,
Mark

[AstralTraveller]

Thank you both, that makes perfect sense. Lucky I have all the Naglers I need :D. I still think. though, that this will affect the exchange rate but I can't guess which way. I'd like to hope that the greenback tanks relative to the $AUD but I've had a few hopes dashed in the last 5 months.

[DarkArts]

This is looking ever more prescient: Idiocracy (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/)

[pmrid]

At first glance, Albo's pledge to subsidise home battery systems sounds good. But by the time the batteries themselves arrive in Oz, they will probably be more expensive because of price gouging here and tariff barriers (on components from China or elsewhere.) So in reality, the promise will turn out to be pretty empty and the net winner will probably be the US Fed Reserve.

Ho hum!

[sharkbite]

At risk of explaining something already understood...and for the benefit of any US cousins that don't get it....

"We " don't charge "them" tarrifs...and they don't charge us...

The government of the receiving country slaps a tax on imports and calls it a tarrif.

This money goes to the government, and is paid by the importer of those goods, who more than likely passes that cost onto the consumer...

It is used tactically to protect a local industry.

Which is fine if you have a local industry you need to protect...

Coffee anyone?

I hope the price of popcorn does not go up....we are gonna need plenty of it over the next 4 years....

[DarkArts]

Well, it's Sunday morning, and I have time on my hands ...


That may well be, especially if retailers/installers sense that there'll be a 'rush'. We'll just have to shop around. It might help if the gummint ran a 'price watch' site similar to fuel (there are already comparison sites, but they're industry-run, so I don't much trust them).


US tariffs increase prices to US business/consumers and likely reduce import volumes into the US. A possible effect in Australia is a glut in the short-to-medium term putting downward pressure on prices, hence the 'anti-dumping' measures just announced. Australia is not imposing tariffs, and our batteries/panels don't come from the US (even Tesla manufactures in China), so our prices won't go up.


Stimulating battery uptake is a good policy - we have abundant solar installations but the power glut in the middle of the day can cause problems - batteries are the most useful way to address that problem and they can also provide resilience and redundancy in case of disaster. 'Virtual power plants', community-scale batteries and other energy storage (e.g. pumped hydro) would also be good.

The US treasury will gain revenue from US tariffs, but then there's the promised tax cuts (revenue loss) and probable recession (more revenue loss) that economists seem to be predicting - so net negative for the US economy - no winners there.


Exactamundo, Kenny. Large blanket tariffs are utterly stupid. :screwy:

[blindman]

We would be much much better with such "crazy" guy.

[AstralTraveller]

The idea of having home batteries and vpps is good but I think community batteries would have many advantages in terms of access (particularly for renters and high rise apartments), maintenance & replacement, and cost per kWh of storage. I'd like to see batteries on the grid at substations and other nodes. Ausgrid missed an opportunity in that regard. My local substation had a largish block of vacant land next door which looked to me to be a great location for a battery. It's now under units. [The land was one a horse paddock for the pit ponies of Corrimal mine. Latter my friend's uncle mowed it and a few of us played cricket on it. Then it became overgrown before being redeveloped.]

Sorry for the digression, back to the tarrifs.

[sharkbite]

Deleting post in order to avoid flame war

[RB]

@blindman, @sharkbite
Not going to allow the discussion to go in that direction.

RB

[lazjen]

Some of the tariffs affects won't be just price changes. In some cases, some items/parts may no longer become available or viable in the US, which in turn my make other things no longer possible to create. At least until alternate sources can be found, which for some manufacturing could take years (or never due to the economics involved).

Because the world has become intertwined in trade, there's going to be some strange and whacky impacts to the supply chains worldwide. Of course, US is going to be the most affected.

[toc]

Australia will definitely get hammered - our dollar is tanking badly and that will probably have as much of affect as tarifs anyway.

I suspect many Chinese manufacturers will raise prices across the board for all countries - ZWO has already done that.

Even if Trump finds a way to save face and reduces the tarifs, the prices definitely wont go back down, so we will be stuck with the new normal.

Sorry folks, but our hobby is going to be in rough shape for some time :(

[Rainmaker]

Trump’s tariff policy has nothing to do with world economics, he is simply engaged in insider trading with all of his family and wealthy friends.
I would bet that Trump and his mates all sold huge stock holdings two months ago knowing he was going to crash the market, and will soon be buying again when he withdraws the tariffs, making billions in the process…..

[sharkbite]

Narry a truer word was spoken...in fact if he does it again...i'm off to buy some shares...

[lazjen]

Yes, it's stock market manipulation, something that he can do at will now. And it does look like they swooping in to buy the lowered stock prices. What a surprise.

[sharkbite]

and here's the proof:

https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/trump-said-it-was-a-great-time-to-buy-on-wall-street-he-made-it-happen-20250410-p5lqmm.html

[sharkbite]

And here's some more proof...

https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/billionaires-cash-out-shares-early-before-trump-s-tariff-plunge-20250421-p5lt28.html