Let’s start with Switzerland. No one, including Switzerland, has any idea why they are suddenly the objects of an outrageously high tariff — 39%.
As I’ve written previously, this will have a major effect on the cost of high end Bernina sewing machines. In particular, the 990, which is their current top of the line and is manufactured in Switzerland, and also Bernina’s longarm machines, which are also manufactured in Switzerland.
I don’t know how much is possible, but Bernina also has a manufacturing plant in Thailand, and it would be beneficial for them to move all line manufacturing there. Since Thailand is only at about a 19% tariff (at the moment). That’s the thing. These tariff’s are all at the whim of one person, so no manufacturer can plan with any precision or even with any modicum of trust that conditions will be positive for manufacturing any goods.
For now, we can all rest assured that the only guarantee is that consumer prices for consumer sewing machines will rise. Period.
When that will start to take place is anyone’s guess.
I’m certain that prices are rising already in preparation for changes.
I know that when the Bernina 990 was first introduced last year, the manufacturer’s suggested retail price was $22,999.
Today, on Bernina’s website, the manufacturer’s suggested retail price is $23,499. It’s already gone up around $500. And it hasn’t even been around a full year.
Tariffs are not even really being added to pricing. Just for fun, take a look at the executive order which explains the timing of tariffs.
Sec. 2. Tariff Modifications. (a) The Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) shall be modified as provided in Annex II to this order. These modifications shall be effective with respect to goods entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time 7 days after the date of this order, except that goods loaded onto a vessel at the port of loading and in transit on the final mode of transit before 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time 7 days after the date of this order, and entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, before 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on October 5, 2025, shall not be subject to such additional duty and shall instead remain subject to the additional ad valorem duties previously imposed in Executive Order 14257, as amended.
So that tells me that anything that gets onto a boat before October 5, 2025, will not have these newest tariffs. I believe Thailand was down at 10% prior to this order. But I’m not a tariff expert, just a consumer trying to keep up.
Now, having worked in retail, I know that most of the holiday season merchandise will be on a boat before October 5.
All of that is simply to say that we will not see the true impact of tariffs — not really — until first quarter 2026. The 2025 holiday season seems already baked in, at whatever shaky pricing guesses merchants could make.
2026 will start to unveil the true cost of these tariffs. And rest assured, that cost will not be borne by manufacturers…or the government…or distributors…or other countries. ( I mean, ask the CEO of Apple, who went to the Whitehouse with gifts and left with exemptions from tariffs.)
We will pay. We, the American consumers will pay for whatever happens in pricing for consumer goods. And food.
Unless of course the tariffs are renegotiated before then.
Why do I suddenly have a taste for TACO’s?
