Good morning, America!
July 24 has arrived, the temporary US import surcharge has expired, and we finally know what comes next for RhPf pedals travelling from Switzerland to the United States.
Against all expectations, we actually have some mildly good news.
Until yesterday, a RhPf pedal entering the US was subject to our normal 2.6% import duty plus the temporary 10% surcharge. That made a combined rate of 12.6%.
From today, Swiss goods are subject to a new total tariff rate of 12.5%.
Yes, you read that correctly.
After six months of trade disruption, court decisions, replacement tariffs and administrative chaos, your import duty has fallen by a magnificent 0.1 percentage point.
Please celebrate responsibly.
What changes at checkout
The previous combination of duties has now been replaced by a single total rate of 12.5%.
The good news is that the normal 2.6% duty on our HTS classification is not added on top. The total remains 12.5%, rather than becoming 15.1%.
Swiss Post has also simplified its PDDP fees. The previous 2% disbursement charge has disappeared, leaving only the fixed 10 CHF PDDP processing fee.
For US customers, checkout will now show:
- The price of your pedal
- Shipping
- A 12.5% US import duty
- The 10 CHF Swiss Post PDDP fee
Everything is calculated and prepaid before your parcel leaves Switzerland. You will not receive another customs invoice, processing charge or payment request when it arrives.
Our pedal prices have not increased. The import duty goes to the US government, and the PDDP fee goes to Swiss Post.
A Practical Example
To get a 249 CHF Regista delivered at your doorstep with no added fee:
- 31.13 CHF Import duties (12.5%)
- 10 CHF Swiss Post PDDP flat fee
- 22.50 CHF Swiss Post Shipping
- 63.63 CHF + 249 CHF = 312.63 CHF (383.01 USD on July 24th)
Why Switzerland?
This new tariff has been introduced following allegations that Switzerland does not do enough to prevent goods made with forced labour from entering its market.
Apparently, Switzerland has a forced labour problem.
This came as news to us too.
We have looked carefully around Basel. So far, we have found trams arriving on time, mandatory workplace insurance, extensive labour protections, collective agreements and enough administrative forms to keep several generations occupied. The forced labour camps remain elusive, but we will stay alert.
To be absolutely clear, forced labour is real, horrific and deserving of serious international action.
What deserves ridicule is the suggestion that taxing a guitar pedal built in Basel is a meaningful response to it.
Punishing an independent guitar effects brand does nothing for anyone being exploited in a global supply chain. It simply makes an American guitarist pay more for a pedal while requiring us to collect the money in advance for the US government.
A triumph of policy design.
After everything we have seen over the past six months, we are also not particularly inclined to accept lectures on human rights from Mr Trump’s administration. Between the conduct of ICE at home and the destruction caused by its confrontation with Iran abroad, Switzerland is probably not where the most urgent lessons are required.
First came tariffs justified through national emergencies. Then came a balance-of-payments emergency. Now it is forced labour.
The justification changes. The invoice remains.
What does not change
We are still shipping to the United States.
We are still building every RhPf pedal right here in Switzerland, still showing every outside cost separately at checkout and we are still not blaming our American customers for decisions they did not make.
You have supported us through suspended shipping, changing customs rules, inexplicable invoices and more plot twists than any guitar pedal company should reasonably experience. You kept ordering, writing to us, sharing recordings and putting our circuits onto stages and pedalboards across the country.
That matters to us far more than tariffs, governments or paperwork.
So yes, the latest chapter is absurd. But the practical outcome is at least slightly better than yesterday: the total tariff has fallen from 12.6% to 12.5%, and Swiss Post has removed its additional disbursement fee.
Take the win. It may only be 0.1%, but these days we are not turning down good news.
We love you, America.
Your government remains more complicated.
With love from Basel,
Thomas & Simone
Original Circuits. Unique Tone. Swiss Precision.