Tariffs on audio gear from EU

Vanity, request for information only | 04302025 | normbal

[normbal]

I’m considering a purchase of a Van den Hul cartridge (XGW Colibri Stradivarius), having found a great price on them, what I can’t find is what the Tariff is going to be on this now as it’s coming out of Netherlands.

Yes, I’ve posted on several audio boards - the TDS is BAD on those, every post degenerated into Trump bashing without resolution.

Yes, I’ve dug into “our” very own US Customs site(s) and their databases are worse than the IRS’ tax code..

IF there is an easy way of determining this value, it’s beyond my google-fu.

Thanks in advance.

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TOPICS: Business/Economy; Hobbies; Music/Entertainment
KEYWORDS: audio; cartridge; tariff

[Dr. Sivana]

Try Perplixity.ai or grok.com . AI is built for these sorts of questions.

[Red Badger]

You’ll get a Bang out of Olafson.................

[Red Badger]

BRAVE AI:

US Tariff on Netherlands Goods

The United States has imposed a 20 percent import duty on all products from the European Union, which includes goods from the Netherlands.

This tariff hike was announced by President Donald Trump on April 2, 2025, as part of broader measures to address trade imbalances.

[RAT_Poison]

The tariff is based on the country of origin - the country in which the goods were manufactured - not the country of shipment.

The current reciprocal tariff on products of the EU (and almost all other countries besides China) is 10% plus the normal rate of duty.

The base tariff rate on products of China is 145% and can be as much as 170-180% after you add the Section 301 duty and the normal rate of duty.

Don’t get burned - ask the seller to tell you the country of origin.

(I’m a licensed customs broker)

[normbal]

Did that. After a non-answer regarding actual tariff rates, DuckDuckGo’s AI directed me to Trade.gov (suggesting I sign up for a free account) which was less than useless.

Country of origin IS Netherlands, so I gather it’s going to cost me another grand for the cartridge if 20% is the current rate.

I’ll wait.

Thanks.

[RAT_Poison]

13.9% plus MPF - call it 14.25% total.

HTSUS 8522.10.0000 - 3.9% - plus reciprocal tariff of 10% and MPF at 0.3464%.

That’s if it’s made in the EU. If made in China, 174.25%.

[Captainpaintball]

1. Nice to see a fellow audiophile on this website. I just went down the rabbit hole/strange alien world of Naim Audio after my Quad gear started showing its age.

2. I would hope a retailer would only charge the tariff on stuff purchased by them for retail sale AFTER the tariff was created. If they had VdH stuff in stock from last year, it would stay that price and not increase. It may help them blow out their inventory if they are 20% cheaper than the rest. But what do I know?

[normbal]

Thanks.

I’m wondering if there’s also a possibility I won’t pay ANYthing as I’ve bought audio gear, parts (capacitors, recording heads, tape) from EU countries in the past and have never gotten charged any duty/toll/tariff.

I DID sell a gadget to Canada once - ONCE - through an eBay sale and wound up LOSING money as I had to pay either the duty/tariff OR return shipping and the buyer wasn’t going to let it go.

[Captainpaintball]

Oh, i forgot to mention… I bought my preamp from a guy in the Netherlands…what a kook.

[Red Badger]

We deal with customers in Europe and they are different than Americans. They all want something for free, what the Cajuns in Louisiana call ‘lagniappe’............

[Organic Panic]

Chomo Joe Biden knows all about phonographs. Ask him...

But really. There are distributors US side.
https://www.vandenhul.com/distributors/

[RAT_Poison]

I would need to better understand the previous imports, but for this one - if the value is more than $800 - I would plan on being charged duty. CBP is ramping up enforcement efforts to collect every penny.

[Noumenon]

Excellent choice of cartridge. You are clearly a nan of culture and taste. What does the rest of your rig look like? For context, I’m running a modified Thorens TD 160 mk III with a Jelco arm and an Ortofon Black.

[iamgalt]

Always favored the AT15N. A great cartridge but not an insane price and you can probably still get one. The satin moving coils were good too and they had enough output so they did not require a pre-amp

[George from New England]

Is this an antique ?

[Noumenon]

Can't go wrong with the majority of the Audio Technica line. I acquired a Denon DP45F at auction in the original box with not a single scratch on the dust cover. Got it for stupid cheap money, too. Came with a Precept cartridge, which is in fact an AT product. Needs a new stylus, but even at $100, that looks to be a bargain.

[iamgalt]

I still use a JVC QL-7 turntable. A superb direct drive model. A huge base and platen with a very good tone arm.

[Noumenon]

JVC made some great turntables. Underrated classics, too. Hard to find now.

[normbal]

Thank you, you as well.

What do I have right now?

Ortofon Verismo hung from an SME V (rebuilt by SME Canada 2 years ago) on a Thorens TD 125 MkII I made a maple plinth for (I also put in a ceramic ball and a sapphire thrust plate for the spindle - NO detectable rumble), new drive electronics by Pat someone… names aren’t my best thing. I’m feeding into an Ortofon SUT into an APT Holmann preamp (updated by Quirk Audio - actually, two of them, one for my garage HiFi setup), amp is a Tektron TK2A3 running single plate RCA tubes circa 1940 or Emission Labs 2A3-S Mesh which I can’t tell the difference between) or a 300b amp I built from plans (also EML and a variety of tubes almost as old as WW2 veterans) and I’ve got a pair of 2A3 monoblocks boxed up for finishing later. The garage stereo uses rebuilt ADCOM GFP-555-II amps (thanks Chris Hoppe for parts/kits/guidance) as monoblocks with JBL 125 speakers; Home speakers were Ohm-Walsh 4’s for a few years then for the past year Schmidt Audio (out of Ontario) but I replaced drivers with more sensitive tweeters and woofers and also use Schmidt’s subwoofer. Not that they didn’t sound GREAT before, but I really wanted to tinker with the range and sensitivity since I’m using low wattage SET amps so much.

I rebuild REVOX RtR’s for fun - keeps me off the streets at night - and play a lot of very old tapes on a B77-II I rebuilt (with some of Revox.de’s upgraded boards), lately I’ve added a streamer (EVERSOLO DMP-A6 Master 2d edition) and Topping Centaurus R2R DAC (which replaced a D90 model LDAC). I’m finding a LOT of music I had considered buying on vinyl but, after listening to the entire records through QOBUZ decided NOT to buy the LP.

You know that experience of hearing a song you really like, buying the record and after the ONE song all the rest is - meh!

Yeah, that.

I have pretty severe tinnitus, but my hearing thresholds and sound discrimination are still very good.

Just got everything packed up for a move to TN in a week, hope to have it up and running again shortly.

I had an Ortofon 2M for over a year, went to a Benz Micro Glider SL LOMC, then an Ortofon Cadenza Black, got a deal on a dealer’s sample Verismo and would much rather replace a stylus on a VDH than the 50% of new rebuild cost for a Verismo now that I’ve had it for a year (about 500 hours maybe) it’s the best cartridge I’ve heard so far (and I also own a Quadratic SUT and had a Musical Surroundings electronic one). Lately I’ve been using the Cadenza and, while there is SOME detail missing in the midrange and upper frequencies I think, I’ve gotten used to it pretty quickly.

VDH seems to be the next step and, like I said, there seem to be some dealers in NL selling them FAR below what they sell for from US dealers.