It doesn’t feel that long ago (2018) that Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment tackled the topic of potential tariffs and their impact on the fire service. Many times, our thoughts immediately moved toward fire apparatus and how tariffs would impact their costs and production. Given the current context of lead times and costs for fire trucks, it’s natural to do the same thing now as Washington, D.C., announces a variety of tariffs at different levels. But, it’s important to remember that many other fire truck components and tools we use regularly could be affected.
Currently, given how often the narrative changes, it’s difficult to pin down what, if any, impacts fire service suppliers are experiencing regarding various tariffs, especially the recently announced tariffs on steel and aluminum that went into effect on June 4.
Paul Darley, CEO of Darley, says that tariffs have not impacted the company’s supply chain significantly. “We try to use USA manufacturers and suppliers wherever possible,” he states.
According to a statement from the REV Fire Group, “Since the tariffs were announced, REV Group’s supply chain team has been working diligently with our suppliers to gain a greater understanding of their financial impacts. Suppliers have been broadly cooperative, though select suppliers have revealed opportunism in leveraging these circumstances to increase pricing unauthentically.”
John Pfeifer, president, chief executive officer, and director, Oshkosh Corp., parent company of Pierce Manufacturing, explained at its Q1 earnings call that nearly all of what the company sells is built in the United States, and the company has a broad US production footprint. The company is proactively working with its supply chain, which is global, to mitigate potential impacts from tariffs. It also is not experiencing any supply chain disruptions or reductions in demand due to tariffs
Impacts to customers, for Darley, are expected to affect export sales. “The primary impact is on our export sales, which in some years, can account for up to 50% of our fire pump sales,” he says. The bottom line is that suppliers are working to limit tariff effects on customers. “About 15% of our suppliers are imposing tariffs price increases on us,” says Darley. “So far, we have not passed along any of these price increases on to our customers.”
And, the REV Fire Group spokesman says, “The REV Group’s supply chain team continues to negotiate and mitigate exposure, while enacting offsets to neutralize the impacts, on behalf of our valued fire departments.”
Fire departments should contact their fire apparatus and equipment vendors for more specific information.
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