Podcast: Buying Diamonds in the Tariff Era 

The US tariffs have had a complex impact on sourcing, Brian Stamey, vice president of marketing and operations at Florida-based retail chain International Diamond Center (IDC), tells the Rapaport Diamond Podcast. 

Suppliers and designers are passing the extra costs on to retailers, sometimes by padding it into their gold-price increases, Stamey told Rapaport’s Joshua Freedman on July 8. 

At the time, import duties on most items were still at 10%; President Donald Trump has since announced a 25% levy on goods from India, which manufactures some 90% of diamonds. 

The situation has not stopped the 11-store retail chain from buying diamonds, the executive added. “[If] there’s a 50-pound bag of flour, make a big biscuit,” he quipped. “That’s a southern idiom for ‘Yes, we’re always buying loose.’”   

Keith Leclerc, IDC’s founder and owner, “is like Joey Chestnut at the July 4 hotdog-eating contest,” Stamey continued, referring to the record-breaking competitive eater. “You put a diamond in front of him, he’s gonna buy it.” 

Stamey outlined how the company shifted from supplying to retailers to being a retailer itself, how it nearly bought a diamond mine, and what he learned from the 2008 financial crash. He recounted his decades of experience working with father-in-law Leclerc, a colorful character who, according to Stamey, has a near-photographic memory of diamonds he’s encountered. 

He also explained the importance of branded diamonds and jewelry to the company.  

Listen to the podcast here:

This podcast is brought to you by GIA — the Gemological Institute of America — protecting consumers and supporting the global gem and jewelry trade since 1931 through research, education, and laboratory services.