The Element 5 is was in stock, but the good news is that more are coming in.
Our store will be restocking the Element 5 very soon, and we expect Amazon’s shipment to arrive shortly as well.
However, the road ahead for American buyers may become bumpy. Recent tariffs announced on April 2nd will undoubtedly impact pricing. Here’s a quick overview of how tariffs and American trade policy will affect our products:
CalDigit purchases the Element 5 from the ACME factory (made-up name) in Vietnam. The price and terms of purchase were agreed upon months, if not years, in advance. When ACME ships the Element 5 units to CalDigit in the US, they must first clear customs in Vietnam. Vietnamese customs authorities review the bill of lading, match the purchase order details with the invoice, and then clear the pallet of Element 5 hubs for export.
Once the shipment arrives at the Port Authority in Los Angeles or Long Beach, it must clear U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) before being delivered to CalDigit. Previously, this customs clearance could take only a few hours or up to one working day.
However, due to recent policy changes, CBP will now assess a 46% tariff on products originating from Vietnam. The shipment cannot be released until this tariff is paid. CBP will notify CalDigit’s shipping broker (the importer on record) of the total tariff owed. The broker will then contact CalDigit, and we must pay this tariff before receiving the shipment.
For example, if ACME charged CalDigit $1 per Element 5, the cost now effectively rises to $1.46 per unit—46 cents of which must be paid upfront to the U.S. government as a tariff, with the original $1 owed to ACME at a later, agreed-upon date. Imagine you’re at the store and grabbing a bottle of water for $1, but at the register it rings up at $1.46. This is the issue CalDigit is facing.
The purpose of tariffs is to encourage domestic manufacturing. However, the U.S. largely shifted away from manufacturing over four decades ago. If CalDigit were to produce the Element 5 domestically, we would still need to import components from overseas, and these imports would also be subject to tariffs.
Moreover, assembling products like the Element 5 domestically would require specialized facilities for Surface Mount Technology (SMT), which involves placing electronic components such as resistors, capacitors, and integrated circuits onto printed circuit boards (PCBs). Establishing or finding a reliable SMT assembly line in the U.S. is a challenging task because this industry requires substantial investment, years to develop, and decades to perfect.
CalDigit is committed to minimizing costs wherever possible, but tariffs represent a direct tax on U.S. businesses, and inevitably, these increased expenses will be passed on to customers.
