This Week in Imaging: U.S. Tariffs are Back on the Menu; Who Will be Affected?

This week the topic is again U.S. tariffs, with President-Elect Donald Trump pledging that on “Day One” of his term, he would impose 25 percent tariffs on products coming in from Mexico and Canada, and an additional 10 percent tariff on products coming in from China (previously he had said he would impose a 60-percent tariff on China.)

What companies would this affect in the document-imaging industry? First, virtually all of these companies manufacture in China, although as we reported this week, some, such as Ricoh, have continued to shift manufacturing – at least manufacturing for U.S.-bound products – out of China.

As for Mexico, Lexmark International manufacturers printer/MFPs, imaging units, developing units, and toner cartridges in Mexico.

For its part, Xerox makes its iGen 5 digital color press in Mexico, while HP makes some commercial notebook PCs in Mexico.

The good news is that only three countries would be affected; previously, the president-elect had threatened 10 to 20 percent tariffs on products from any country. That’s good news for companies that have shifted some production out of China into other countries in Southeast Asia, such as Thailand.

As we noted, these tariffs could be implemented fairly quickly, as they wouldn’t require approval from the U.S. Congress, for instance, and instead could be implemented via executive order.

This Week in Imaging

Ricoh Plans to Shift Some MFP Production out of China in Response to Proposed Tariffs

Financial News

Summary of Document-Imaging Companies First-Half Financial Results

HP Reports Second Consecutive Quarter of Revenue Growth

Ricoh Increases Financial Forecast Due to Arbitration Award

Market Research and Reports

Worldwide Printer and Copier/MFP Shipments See Positive Growth

Legal Briefs

New Security Class-Action Lawsuits Aimed at Xerox