Nikon Releases Ominous Public Statement, Says to Expect Price Hikes Soon

The Trump tariffs seem almost elegantly crafted to hurt photographers in their wallets, as consumers have no real alternatives by which they can avoid paying massive price increases.

The US doesn’t manufacture much in the way of photography gear. It hasn’t in a long, long time. That market is thoroughly dominated by the Japanese firms Nikon, Canon, Ricoh/Pentax, Fujifilm, and Panasonic. The only carve-outs in which Japanese dominance is an exception are Leica and Hasselblad, which are both European companies.

Only Kodak and Polaroid rank as household names of American camera manufacturers, but there are two problems with that. One, they aren’t in the same league as the names above. And two, they may be companies headquartered in the US, but they don’t make their cameras here, and so they, too, have to deal with the tariff situation.

No surprise, then, that Nikon announced on May 23 that consumers in the US should expect price increases on June 23, 2025. Its short statement doesn’t say for which products the price increases will apply. It doesn’t say much at all, actually. At least it doesn’t mince words.

Nikon’s press release

“At Nikon, we remain committed to providing the highest quality imaging products and value to our customers,” says what surely has to go down in company history as one of its briefest press releases ever. Then again, the news isn’t particularly good for consumers, and there’s no way to sugarcoat news that we certainly don’t want to hear.

“Due to the recent tariffs, a necessary price adjustment for products will take effect on June 23, 2025. We will be carefully monitoring any tariff developments and may adjust pricing as necessary to reflect the evolving market conditions. We wish to thank our customers for their understanding and know that we are taking every possible step to minimize the impact on our community.”

Carefully monitoring tariff developments sounds like trying to catch an escaped chicken, as the “tariff situation,” one of the gentlest ways of putting it, seems to be changing almost daily.