Since the start of his second term, President Trump has been threatening and pursuing tariffs from a number of countries. While a lot of discussion has taken place for things like groceries, car parts, or agricultural inputs; the tariffs could have wide-ranging impacts…
“…A lot of the records that we get are imports, or at least, even if they're not imports, domestic records still get pressed in Europe a lot of the time. So it's a wait and see for now, but we stocked up on a bunch of stuff just in case they end up going into effect.”
Matt Oland is owner of Orange Records in Fargo. He says there has yet to be any announcements of tariffs against the European Union and no sign of whether vinyl records from Canada or Mexico will see a tariff. Oland says says with that uncertainty there’s a bit of unease. He says while it may seem counter-intuitive, even American records by artists like Taylor Swift could see tariffs because their records and packaging could be pressed or printed in another country…
“The pressing plants in the United States are just so backed up that it's easier and faster to get them done overseas, even though you're shipping them, like, over the ocean unnecessarily kind of, but then it speeds everything up.”
Another concern comes from the equipment to playback those records. He says many of the turntables and powered speakers he sells are all manufactured in other countries.
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Full Disclosure: Orange Records is a financial supporter of programming on Prairie Public.