AV Industry Fears Tariffs' Effects on CE

Times are "very good" for audio/video retailers and integrators, said ProSource CEO David Workman in a Wednesday state of the business address in San Antonio, but "we live in a cyclical business, and times can sometimes turn." ProSource Chairman Murray Huppin, who owns Huppin’s and OneCall, said in an opening address that “tariffs and trade wars loom on the horizon.” In a news media update, Workman said strong growth projections for ProSource would be derailed by tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on electronics. “That’s probably the one wild card that none of us could predict,” he said. Dealers cited tariffs on consumer electronics leading to “massive price increases,” he said. Price increases on chipsets would likely “ripple up into virtually everything we’re selling,” he said. "China is the No. 1 point of manufacture for everything we sell.”