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Brooklyn electronics company Adafruit hit with surprise $36K tariff bill: "pay in one week" (boingboing.net)

submitted 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/economics@lemmy.world

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When DHL delivered mail to Adafruit Industries last week, it wasn't a typical invoice but a gut punch: a $36,126.46 customs duty bill that had to be paid within seven days.

The bill comes from Trump's multi-layered tariffs that can stack up to 170% on certain electronics components. For Adafruit, a company that supplies makers and engineers with specialized electronic parts, this creates a perfect storm.

These components were ordered months ago before tariff changes, can't be sourced elsewhere due to intellectual property restrictions, and must be paid for immediately — not after sales are made.

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[–] towerful@programming.dev 74 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

Adafruit makes some seriously useful PCBs.
If you have ever tinkered, you likely have some sort of requirement that needs a little more tech to make work. Afafruit cover that gap, and all their stuff is open source.
A genuinely good US tech company.

[–] randomblock1@lemmy.world 27 points 3 weeks ago

Not only that, but they make a LOT of libraries that make using those sensors WAY easier. Arduino, CircuitPython, and more. And lots of well-written tutorials! They care, and it shows. They don't deserve these tariffs...

[–] MotoAsh@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Isn't Adafruit British in origin?

[–] ooterness@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

No, it's based in New York.

[–] MotoAsh@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago

OH! I'm thinking of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, which is in Britain.

I guess I confused them in my head since I got in to both around the same time so many years ago and seldom think about origins of corps...