US crypto miners may rush to buy rigs in tariff pause despite ‘clear disadvantage’
US Bitcoin mining firms will try to capitalize on the Trump administration’s recent tariff pause by stocking up on mining rigs, but the baseline 10% tariffs will still leave the industry at a disadvantage, industry executives say.
President Donald Trump paused his administration’s hefty reciprocal tariffs until July 8, but kept a minimum 10% tariff on most countries bar China, which had its rate hiked to 145%.
Hashlabs CEO Jaran Mellerud told Cointelegraph that while the 10% levy is much lighter than the initial tariffs, US miners are still at a “clear disadvantage” when it comes to purchasing mining machines compared to competitors abroad.
He said the baseline US tariffs aren’t enough “to make mining in the US unprofitable, but it definitely raises capital expenditure and will impact the long-term viability of new investments.”
“We expect to see a short-term spike in machine imports as miners rush to get ahead of potential future tariff hikes,” Mellerud added.
Source: Jaran Mellerud
A price hike on crypto mining rigs is already happening, Luxor Technology’s chief operating officer Ethan Vera told Cointelegraph.
“US miners are still looking to purchase machines ahead of the potential further increase in 90 days. In addition, US-landed machines have run up in price, as have contracts with onshore assembly.”
On April 2, Trump’s hiked tariffs placed levies on Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia — countries home to three of the largest mining rig manufacturers — at respective rates of 36%, 32% and 24%.
Tariff instability will stunt US Bitcoin mining growth
Mellerud said in an April 8 report, before the pause on the hiked tariffs, that Trump’s levies could collapse US demand for mining rigs, to the benefit of non-US mining operations, as manufacturers will look outside the US to sell their surplus inventory for cheaper.
He told Cointelegraph the now-lowered tariffs would offer some relief for US miners, but imposing the tariffs and then suddenly pausing them only added uncertainty to US Bitcoin mining firms looking to plan and scale.
“What miners need is predictability and stable rules — not policy whiplash every few months.”
Luxor’s Vera said that the policy changes “will certainly hurt growth” in the US.
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Vera said Luxor has even been forced to rethink its strategy and consider expanding into international markets for future expansion.
Trump pledged during his presidential campaign that he wanted all the remaining Bitcoin (BTC) to be “made in the USA.”
Several members of Trump’s family have also partnered with Bitcoin mining firm Hut 8 to lead Bitcoin mining venture “American Bitcoin” late last month. The venture aims to build the world’s largest Bitcoin mining firm with strategic reserves.
While the tariffs are broad in nature, the crypto mining industry simply isn’t a “high priority” for the Trump administration, Vera said.
Trump’s tariffs have shaken up almost every market, including the crypto markets and Bitcoin, which is down 1.2% over the last 24 hours to $80,555, CoinGecko data shows.
Bitcoin is now 26% off the $108,786 all-time high it set on Jan. 20 — the same day that Trump returned to the White House.
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