Tariff Watch

[MT]

No one wins in a trade war.  It is very clear in all non-USA countries.  What the others are interested is not in the tariff war, but to stop it through the voters that voted for Trump.  Hope that works.  Why should the rest of the world be Japan that lost decades, but the very party that has the internal problem enjoy the benefits of bullying.  If the world spin into depression like the forgotten 1930, it can a good lesson for the next biggest player for the next 100 year.

You aren't going to change Trump voters.  If anything, they are going to double down and he will be reelected in 2020.  If you don't like him now, just wait until he is in his second term and can't run for reelection.

The working people are tired of supporting the rest of the world.  Whether it is NATO, the UN or unbalanced trade, the voters are angry and Trump is the manifestation of that anger.  Why should we support other countries when we can't afford to fix our own problems?  Trump is right!  Take care of America first.  If there is anything left over then consider spending it elsewhere.

Germany is a big economy.  Why don't they support NATO at the agreed financial level?  They're not even close and don't plan to be for the next 10 years - if then.  Why should we pay for their defense?  Do they think they are far enough away from the Russian border that they don't need to worry about it?  If so, why are we worrying about it?  Pull out!  Bring everything home.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/25/news/nato-funding-explained-trump/index.html

Estonia pays full price for NATO.  They have to!  They're right on the border and pretty easy for Russia to run right over.  But at least they are smart enough to realize they have a problem and had better support NATO at the full 2% of GDP.  Unfortunately, they are going to be tossed on the scrap heap when NATO collapses.  If the other countries don't increase their contributions, Trump will walk away.  The voters will support him!

Why should the voters support NAFTA when the Canadians impose a 270% tariff on our dairy products?  How is that 'Free Trade'?  The US has gotten the short stick in all of these agreements.  The best thing Trump did was cancel the TPP and TTIP agreements.  All NAFTA accomplished was moving auto manufacturing jobs to Mexico.  How did that help the US?

I don't think people understand the depth of the discontent in this country.  Hillary's defeat is one example!  She was the anointed one, absolutely guaranteed the presidency, no doubt about it, it was her turn. Until the voters had their say!  Notice which states helped crush her campaign.  States with working people!  Their views aren't going to change.

Dumpf/Killary is just the symptom of a global disease not the cure, maybe start listen to Bill Binney, Colonel Laurence Williams etc after reading som of Sun Tzu , Gusave le Bong, George Owells, Samuel Langhorne Clemens, etc?
 
Regarding your idea you don't think people understand the depth of the discontent in your and other countries
politics often plays out in the most peculiar way let me give you possible example, Dumpf may cause so much harm to the USA from the 1 party and it's two branches internal civil war a 2 party emerge consisting of 192 million Americans.

[ebastler]

The really amusing thing is the way the EU leaders create the biggest closed trade zone on the planet, then cry foul when Trump does likewise.   

I think you misunderstood something there. The EU concept is largely about removing barriers within the union, not creating barriers to the outside. (And that removal of internal barriers seemed to be what half of the UK population was unhappy about when they cast their votes a while ago.)

[Delta]

The really amusing thing is the way the EU leaders create the biggest closed trade zone on the planet, then cry foul when Trump does likewise.   

I think you misunderstood something there. The EU concept is largely about removing barriers within the union, not creating barriers to the outside. (And that removal of internal barriers seemed to be what half of the UK population was unhappy about when they cast their votes a while ago.)

The EU concept is to protect German manufacturers and French farmers from competition, and to prevent small enterprises from challenging the big boys.

At its core is protectionism and corporatism.

[calexanian]

OP here. I want to target this back to people reporting if they are actually affected directly on Parts and equipment they  are purchasing out of China. Not policy conjecture. There is enough of that on the evening news.

[Delta]

OP here. I want to target this back to people reporting if they are actually affected directly on Parts and equipment they  are purchasing out of China. Not policy conjecture. There is enough of that on the evening news.

Fair enough. Sorry for the tangent...

[calexanian]

I got another email today from a vendor. This time Sager Electronics. They will be adsorbing the tariff until august 15, then will be passing it along. Since parts are a commodity market and manufacturers work in multiple countries the country of origin will be determined at time of shipment. I have also heard from other distributors they are attempting to source from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea, Vietnam, etc.

[schmitt trigger]

This topic is also a hot topic on many other forums which I attend.

Another poster in another forum had an interesting thought: that this import duty is a mischievous way to offset the revenue shortfall caused by the tax reform. By hiding this duty (tax) on the final product's price, they can avoid calling it a "tax", which would be political suicide.

[helius]

It's a story we've seen play out before.

[ebastler]

OP here. I want to target this back to people reporting if they are actually affected directly on Parts and equipment they  are purchasing out of China. Not policy conjecture. There is enough of that on the evening news.

[Bassman59]

Another poster in another forum had an interesting thought: that this import duty is a mischievous way to offset the revenue shortfall caused by the tax reform. By hiding this duty (tax) on the final product's price, they can avoid calling it a "tax", which would be political suicide.

That's giving Trump way more credit than he deserves.

Trump views trade in the same way he views every "deal" with which he is involved -- you win or you lose. He wants to punish our trade partners for their perceived (by him) "cheating" at trade. Unfortunately for nearly everyone, that's not how international trade and politics works.

[helius]

"Revenue shortfalls" are purely political problems for the legislature, they have no economic relevance for the sovereign currency issuer.

[shteii01]

This topic is also a hot topic on many other forums which I attend.

Another poster in another forum had an interesting thought: that this import duty is a mischievous way to offset the revenue shortfall caused by the tax reform. By hiding this duty (tax) on the final product's price, they can avoid calling it a "tax", which would be political suicide.

ACA became a law.  It was completely internal to US, meaning it is a tax even though it is not called tax, and President Obama served two terms so it was not political suicide for him.

On the other hand, the Congress did turn over quiet a bit because of ACA passing, so it was political suicide for many congress persons.

Basically any government action that increases government income can be interpreted as some kind of tax.

If you want another interesting idea in addition to the one you already listed, here is one:  there is an item that has increased tariff, the vendor brings it from China, pays the tariff and then increases sales price of the item to compensate for increased cost.  The vendor resides in a state that has a Sales Tax (7% in my state).  When a customer comes to buy this item, the customer pays sales tax.  So.  The item used to cost 100 USD, my sales tax is 7% so I paid 107 USD with 7 USD going to the state government.  Now the cost of the item is increased by 25%, it is now 125 USD, with 7% sales tax price becomes 133.75 USD with 8.75 USD going to the state government.

[Mr. Scram]

Being legitimate immigrant, I admit I'm biased towards illegal immigrants, but I have to say that having to work with people who don't speak English is hard, and I definitely don't want to work with people who I can't talk with.

If I have to learn Spanish to talk with technicians that fix my house whom I paid with an American wage standard, I will not be happy.

What's wrong with speaking Spanish? The US has no official language. Historically French, English and Spanish all make sense. Currently the last two seem to be practical.

[Mr. Scram]

I don't mind Spanish people speaking Spanish, or Hispanic Americans speaking Spanish within their community.
But I called a so called American company for service, and I spoke English with the company representative, and my actual service was carried out by people who can't speak English.
I don't mind if it's Spanish or whatever language -- if I didn't get to speak with the workers working on my house in English, I am not happy.

Sure, there's not an official language in US, but there's a de-facto universal language in US.

Not wanting to sound pedantic, but if it was universal you wouldn't have your problem.

[donotdespisethesnake]

This thread went wildly off-topic (partly my fault), but I am interested in the effects of tariffs in electronics biz.

Apart from soybean farmers and Harley Davison, it seems minimal so far?

[calexanian]

Friday came another round of lead times going up due to “Supply Issues” from distributors. This is getting very serious.

[innkeeper]

Friday came another round of lead times going up due to “Supply Issues” from distributors. This is getting very serious.

gee... if there were only another source  ..

[calexanian]

Two things.

Allied Electronics sent out their notice. Essentially the parts from China will have their prices increased accordingly as new inventory arrives.

Secondly

Overnight there is a new business model. Chinese firms selling items through brokers in Hong Kong and shipped out from there. Hong Kong is not included in the tariffs evidently. They are probably even changing the country of origin to hong kong.

[Mr. Scram]

Two things.

Allied Electronics sent out their notice. Essentially the parts from China will have their prices increased accordingly as new inventory arrives.

Secondly

Overnight there is a new business model. Chinese firms selling items through brokers in Hong Kong and shipped out from there. Hong Kong is not included in the tariffs evidently. They are probably even changing the country of origin to hong kong.

That reminds me of the reaction to the Russian sanctions a while back. Suddenly there were fish and other sea related products coming from countries that don't even have a coastline. 

[schmitt trigger]

Turkish Vodka?

[Gribo]

New tariff on Uranium. My reactor is slipping away, damnit. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/07/us-considers-tariffs-on-uranium-imports/

[Bud]

That reminds me of the reaction to the Russian sanctions a while back. Suddenly there were fish and other sea related products coming from countries that don't even have a coastline. 

Not sure in what direction you mean. I heard that story in relation to the countersanctions imposed by Russia, i.e. Russia was watching fish products and other food do not sneak through her borders coming in from non-sanctioned countries.

[Mr. Scram]

New tariff on Uranium. My reactor is slipping away, damnit. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/07/us-considers-tariffs-on-uranium-imports/

I think more expensive power for US citizens is definitely going to help them.

[innkeeper]

why are we selling 20% of our uranium production to Russia and we only produce 5% of our needs domestically.. 

[innkeeper]

The Shanghai Composite has fallen some 17 percent this year and was more than 23 percent below its 52-week high at the market close on Friday.

us Nasdaq: +8.8%

US Second-quarter GDP jumps 4.1% in Q2 2018 (compare that to 1.2% in Q2 2016)

The data points to a modest slowdown in the Chinese economy...

Remember, the US is holding all the chips when it comes to China ... hope this drives some of this home to those that still doubt the validity the directions being taken.