US new China Import duties how will it affect sewing machine prices

[chrisash]

Well as the say how things are different between two countries, in my time (12 years) in the Royal Navy we never had any repair staff for uniforms, just issued with a small housewife sewing kit of some thread, buttons, needles and darning cotton and told to do it all ourselves, I think our other forces were the same

Back to the subject, sewing machines regardless where they are made, most components are probably made by different firms using cad controlled machines to keep the standard high, but assembly is the area where low cost labor play's a major cost saving, I seriously doubt there is any real difference between clones and Juki these days, apart from Juki having the highly skilled design staff where as other countries just copy out of date patent designs. That's not to say all Chinese goods are assembled well in fact we can all name items with missing screws etc

In the UK we learnt many years ago you cannot compete with low cost economies in labor hense we lost ship building and many other industries and now rely on high tech and services

[bikermutt07]

@chrisash a lot of times industries move to cheaper countries because their nation of origin taxes them too much. This is how America was robbed of it's great industrial might. 

It wasn't labor costs that sent our companies over seas as much as it was our greedy politicians and the "EPA". I'm sure labor costs played a part, but not as much as one might think.

Inflation in our country ( also caused by greedy politicians ) probably played a more significant part in making labor costs look much higher.

[CowboyBob]

Yes,I just got the news a couple days ago & it starts on 9-24 any imported machines will have 10% on them & after 1-1-19 it's going up to 25% so if you've been setting on the fence about a machine you better make your mind up soon.Or it will cost you more $$.

[chrisash]

Unfortunately when the prices go up in this artificial way, even when its all sorted out the prices never drop back to the old prices just drop a small amount, so maker and middle men make more money at expense of the buyers 

[bullmoosepaddles]

@CowboyBob Do you have an estimate of the differences at this point? The tax will only apply to the import price I assume?  

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

55 minutes ago, chrisash said:

Unfortunately when the prices go up in this artificial way, even when its all sorted out the prices never drop back to the old prices just drop a small amount, so maker and middle men make more money at expense of the buyers 

Yep, kind of like the cattle/beef market.

[Constabulary]

I would not count on that - you never know - when a new player / competitor enters the game the price could drop again. it also depends on how much a dealer already has stocked. If you have a good number of machines in stock you can hold the price for a while and in 2 years (most likely) you  have a new president anyway and then cards are being reshuffled again. Time will tell.

[bikermutt07]

14 minutes ago, Constabulary said:

I would not count on that - you never know - when a new player / competitor enters the game the price could drop again. it also depends on how much a dealer already has stocked. If you have a good number of machines in stock you can hold the price for a while and in 2 years (most likely) you  have a new president anyway and then cards are being reshuffled again. Time will tell.

I'm not sure I would make that 2 year bet...

The opposition to our current president doesn't have a single candidate in play that could give him a run for his money. 

America is waking up to the tired old millionaire white politicians ( Republican and Democrat ) claiming to be for the little guy and minorities.

Not trying to go all political or anything, it's just what I am observing.

[Constabulary]

41 minutes ago, bikermutt07 said:

America is waking up to the tired old millionaire white politicians ( Republican and Democrat ) claiming to be for the little guy and minorities.

I understand that!

Lots of people over here are sick of their government too - and its not getting better. Just yesterday they promoted the chief of the intelligence service because of several frailties - What - kidding me ? Sorry too complicated to explain the whole story in English. They really provoke it and scratching their head why they are going to loose (or already have lost) a lot voters. And that is just one sample...

** deleted what else I wanted to write - don´t want a political discussion here **

reg. 2 years - I take that bet - lets bet for 2 packs of 135x17 / 135x16 needles (no Chinese needles - they will be to expensive then )

Edited September 19, 2018 by Constabulary

[LetterT]

2 hours ago, bikermutt07 said:

America is waking up to the tired old millionaire white politicians ( Republican and Democrat ) claiming to be for the little guy and minorities.

There was an excellent photo I have seen on the recent trade talks between China and US, the age gap between two parties was astounding. I found it, New York Times link https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/21/business/china-trade-talks.html