I'm not disagreeing with looking for the best deal by going elsewhere- ultimately that's the thing to do. However, I can say that when I bought a custom made racing bicycle, I decked it out with all Italian parts- and some nice upgrades- because at that point in time the exchange rate made it very affordable for me.
Likewise, professionally, I deal with imports from China. (Patman, I realize you could explain this better than me, however since you passed on it, I'm jumping in.) Factories which build our products are closing daily- with zero notice. In some cases the workers have shown up to the closed sign on the door. These are for product lines that we recently moved from one factory to another, ie. new contracts, "plenty of business", can't stay afloat. As the dollar loses ground and the yuan (which is greatly undervalued as it is) gains in value the factories are losing money. We see price increases weekly. Even with the renegotiated price factories are closing. These are well established manufacturers going under.
You are absolutely not getting a line of bull on how fluctuations in euro to dollar; yuan to dollar etc. are having very real effects in the global economy. Add to that runaway cost increases to shipping and those imports get more and more expensive. It is absolutely possible they can't import one for the same price as they did last year. Which isn't to say he isn't charging you too much. It just doesn't mean he's lying either.
I've now told you more than I know. Lol. Not even good for a nickel's worth of advice.