There’s an argument to be made that the Xerox acquisition of Lexmark is truly deserving of the Year’s Most Shocking Story trophy. Still, we decided that as earth-shaking as the deal was for the industry, it definitely was deserving of the Year’s Top Story. And we don’t want to double up, so it can’t have both trophies.
As we pack away the holiday ornaments and wait for the post-New Year rush of December acquisition announcements, we’re taking one of the Top 10 Stories of 2025 and drilling down inside it to harvest one of the lesser-heralded but definitely eyebrow-raising, gaping-mouth-inducing aspects. It’s a tale that would make all business owners wince on cue. It involves one of the industry’s prominent manufacturers and its top executive, who is truly one of the industry’s good guys.
Unfortunately, the Year’s Most Shocking Story was Toshiba receiving two shipments from China at the height of President Trump’s tariffs on imported goods from that country. The tariff rate was a knee-buckling 140+%.
Chinese import tariffs have been particularly draconian and volatile. After topping out, the rates dropped to about 30% between May and October. However, they shot back up to 130% in November.
In a Channel Insight feature on Toshiba in the October issue of ENX Magazine, CEO Larry White noted:
“In April, tariffs on products from China rose dramatically from 25% to 152% while tariffs from Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia nearly doubled. Unfortunately, two major shipments arrived from China during the peak tariff window, which significantly impacted profitability. That was difficult to ingest. Sometimes luck is on your side, but the timing was definitely bad luck.”
As a postscript, a number of office technology industry manufacturers have taken the president to court, so to speak, seeking recompense. Toshiba filed its suit in the U.S. Court of International Trade on the last day of 2025, arguing the tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) go beyond presidential authority and fall under the authority of congress. The suit also targets U.S. Customers and Border Protection.
Fingers Crossed
As we reported last month, two lower court case rulings found the IEEPA tariffs to be illegal. The cases, brought by two sets of small business, were appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) by the Trump Administration and were combined into one for the sake of the review. SCOTUS heard arguments from both sides on Nov. 4, and it could render a decision on the question of the IEEPA application as soon as this month.
Sharp, Katun, Ricoh and Xerox-Lexmark are the other OEMs known to have challenged the tariffs. So perhaps Toshiba and all the other impacted importers of Chinese goods may eventually get their money back. Still, as gut punches go, this one is a doozy.
