The US government announced global “reciprocal tariffs”, which include a 24% tariff on Japan. The tariff, which is expected to take effect in one week on April 9th, would levy a tax of 24% on imports of all goods from Japan.
As the majority of Canon cameras and lenses are manufactured in Japan, if the tariff proceeds as planned, most Canon items will see an import levy of 24% when entering the USA. We expect that this would add 24% to the cost that Canon USA would pay when importing Canon cameras and lenses from Japan. Once Canon USA exhausts its current inventory of products, we predict that the higher cost would be passed on as a significant price increase to dealers (and eventually to end-consumers).
Note that shipping via a third-country does not avoid the tariff (as tariffs are based on country of origin, not shipment). For example, purchasing Canon cameras from stores in Canada would still be subject to the 24% tariff on Japan, as the “country of origin” is Japan (not Canada).
There is still significant uncertainty as to the magnitude of the actual tariffs and the implementation date, but the next few days are an excellent time to purchase cameras and lenses before what may be a lengthy period of price uncertainty.
