U.S. to collect 25% tariffs on Chinese woodworking equipment starting July 6

PLEASE NO POLITICS!

I saw this on Woodworking Network and wanted to alert anyone considering buying woodworking machinery in the near future.

Brands that immediately come to mind are Jet, Powermatic, Grizzly, Laguna, Baleigh, etc. although at least some of their offerings are made elsewhere.

"Planing, milling or molding machines for working wood and other materials, as well as grinding, sanding or polishing machines, bending or assembling machines and related machine tools for working wood are on the list of items on which the U.S. will begin collecting 25 percent tariffs on July 6."

Here's a link to the article. (Mods - Apologies if not allowed.)

https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/n...equipment-july

AGAIN, PLEASE REFRAIN FROM POLITICAL RESPONSES.

Thanks!

So what does this mean in practical terms? That those companies will increase prices approximately 25%? Or will the purchase of those companies' machines also become somehow more convoluted or difficult?

The no political responses have got to be a joke. Three of my suppliers have raise their prices because of political reasons. It all revolves around aluminum. Aluminum is now the new gold in the US. Without being political, why has aluminum gone up in price???

A dollar is a dollar, no matter how you look at it! Tariffs adjust a dollar... why do so many Mexicans cross the border legally, every year to pick apples? That labour is cheaper and you don’t want to do it.

I have a Filipino nanny living in my home which I employ. I exploited the Internet and all revenue agency’s seeking help and position. No one applied nationally.... you know why your kids have iPhones!

I do educate kids in a mass. 50% of them to say to me my parents will take care me. What happens when the riches run out?

Yes, it will be interesting to see how realistic it is to have a discussion on this subject on a "no politics please" basis.

It's a worthy topic though, and I wonder how quickly we will see price changes on woodworking tools as a result of the tariffs. We definitely live in interesting times.

Many products are assembled in a given country, with components made in China. I don't know if products like that will be affected.
Edwin

We're going to pay more for a time until all of the political posturing is complete. Not just on goods from China either.
Why aluminum has become so expensive is a little questionable. It must have to do with the manufacturing process because if memory serves me, the only naturally occurring mineral on earth in greater abundance than aluminum is silica. It's definitely not rare.
In the end I believe that you'll see the tariffs will be reduced, if not eliminated, but the prices at the retail level probably won't change enough to reflect this.

I'm gonna make a wild guess, that once prices go up they won't go back down, tariffs or not.

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the only naturally occurring mineral on earth in greater abundance than aluminum is silica.

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Aluminum is not a mineral, as it does not occur naturally. Bauxite, the ore from which Al is most commonly (by far) extracted, is a mineral.

Tariffs are fundamentally a politically implemented tool, so any non-political discussion will be limited to how much prices go up and when. "Just the facts, ma'am." :-)

The current way aluminum is made requires a lot of power. Often plants are next to power plants to reduce the distance needed for the power lines. Then there's the waste byproducts. Like everything in this country the costs are always going up. This is not political, just a fact. When we increase the costs and hoops to jump through to make something companies must decide if they should stay here or move production to a different country. Hopefully China decides that it's better to work out a solution vs continue a trade war. The fact is that for a number of us "hobby" woodworkers even Taiwanese equipment is too expensive to justify. Maybe companies like Grizzly can do like Toyota did with their pickups. Build almost everything over there and just put the bed on in the US. Maybe the solution is going to be do 90% of the work in China and then do the final few steps in the US (or in Taiwan/ India) to avoid the tariffs.

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It all revolves around aluminum.

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Why are we bringing Aluminum into this, it's a separate tariff/ issue. OP posted about the tariff on industrial type machinery being implemented...mostly iron and steel made. Although it seems part of the same 'plan' (one is material, the other is machinery, very little of it made with aluminum), co-mingling the two isn't appropriate....a long stretch, at best.

Increasing cost with tariffs causes buyers to seek alternatives. Those alternatives see a spike in demand which will eventually translate to higher list prices and temporarily translate to smaller discounts.

It’s impossible to raise prices in a large segment of a market without having an effect on all pricing.

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Originally Posted by Justin Meyer

Why are we bringing Aluminum into this, it's a separate tariff/ issue. OP posted about the tariff on industrial type machinery being implemented...mostly iron and steel made. Although it seems part of the same 'plan' (one is material, the other is machinery, very little of it made with aluminum), co-mingling the two isn't appropriate....a long stretch, at best.

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Aluminum extrusions and parts are on almost every piece of machinery that I own.

Aluminum itself has not gone up in price. President Trump determined that foreign sourced aluminum - mostly from Canada, Europe and Australia - was a threat to the national security of the USA. So, in order to spur US production of aluminum (and steel), the President imposed duties of 10% and 25% on these foreign-produced products. The objective of the President is to encourage US production of these metals for the US domestic market. In the short term, it means that the products that use these metals will be more expensive to manufacture and, assuming that the manufacturers pass along those increased costs, the products will be more expensive for US buyers. In the very long term, I supposed the objective is that the increased US production will return prices to what they were before the tariff was imposed. Time will tell. In the meantime, as demand for Canadian aluminum drops because our aluminum has become too expensive, Canadian aluminum producers are hurting. The same holds true for Canadian steel.

I'm Canadian and have tried in this post to remain non-political. It is difficult for Canadians to understand how we are now considered to be a security threat to our friends in the US, but that is the cold hard truth now.

Canada has proven her friendship to the United States time and again, Grant. I value that and I'm sure many others do too.

Fred

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Originally Posted by Alex Zeller

The current way aluminum is made requires a lot of power. Often plants are next to power plants to reduce the distance needed for the power lines. Then there's the waste byproducts. Like everything in this country the costs are always going up. This is not political, just a fact. When we increase the costs and hoops to jump through to make something companies must decide if they should stay here or move production to a different country. Hopefully China decides that it's better to work out a solution vs continue a trade war. The fact is that for a number of us "hobby" woodworkers even Taiwanese equipment is too expensive to justify. Maybe companies like Grizzly can do like Toyota did with their pickups. Build almost everything over there and just put the bed on in the US. Maybe the solution is going to be do 90% of the work in China and then do the final few steps in the US (or in Taiwan/ India) to avoid the tariffs.

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The Toyota Tundra and Tacoma are built here in San Antonio. The body parts are stamped here, V8s made in Alabama and the frames are from Mexico. The body and drive train seem to me to be a significant portion of the truck.

This will trigger inflation and the long overdue stock market correction.