Some car audio companies are already making contingency plans for possible tariffs on electronics products of as much as 25 percent.
On Thursday, President Trump announced his administration was placing tariffs on goods made in China imported into the US. Exactly which products will be affected will be announced by the US Trade Office in two weeks, but electronics are widely expected to be on the list.
Forty six percent of electronics and computers imported in the US come from China, according to the New York Times citing Census Bureau data.
The action follows the recent placement of tariffs on steel and aluminum of 25 percent and 10 percent, respectively.
Epsilon VP Sales & Marketing Paul Goldberg said, “We are extremely conscious of product that incorporates steel and aluminum. Beyond that we are already talking about our plans to transition from some of the factories we have in China to other locations that aren’t going to be tariffed. We have a contingency plan put together.”
Scosche Executive VP Kas Alves said prices would likely increase, although he underscored that the exact products to be impacted are not finalized and we don’t know the exact tariff penalty. He called the act, “Very concerning….Will we look at other countries for manufacturing? Yes, we will. Will the tariff be enough to bring production back into the US? It depends. We can do that. Scosche makes some of its dash kits in house. We also might look at other countries exempt from the tariffs.”
He added, “Raising prices is never an easy thing to do; to tell a buyer you have to raise prices. But they understand it. It’s just so you can survive; so you can get back in the black.”
As it stands now, once the Trade Office announces the products to be affected in two weeks, there will be a subsequent 30 day period in which the public and businesses may comment, reported The Street. So fully defined tariff laws are not expected for the next 60 days.
Photo via ReviewCars on YouTube
Funny thing is when you go to other countries they want to buy “made in America” products. They already get made in China, India etc etc. that’s not what they want!!!!
Great sentiments and thoughts ALL. BUT it seems from the comments that we may have forgotten some of our history. Many of the US manufacturers of products in the “significant purchase” category (cars, refrigerators, washing machines, etc…) were designed with a feature called planned obsolescence. Our grandfathers built and some cases probably participated in the creating this design feature. Why not? American consumers had very few buying options. What is planned obsolesence? Designing a product to last for a period of time and then fail. That time period was often (in the case of cars for instance 3 years) equal to the traditional finance period. Just about when the product was paid of, it failed and the consumer went out and purchased a new one. This concept may sound a little nasty. BUT it happened. Our grandfathers participated in it.
No question we should promote American jobs, products and economy. We should also learn how to do it a little more in the “ideal American fashion”.
Putting people to work in the very market your selling in , is pure genius ! What a mind blowing business concept !
To all the manufactures that shut down factories in the USA and put millions of Americas out on the street out of money and out of there homes, just to save a buck and make more money payback is coming.
To those that stayed and fixed outdated manufacturing problems and figured out ways to compeat your years ahead of the game now you’ll reep the rewards.
Just moving to a country without terrifs won’t be enough.
The USA once had a extremely large electronics industry. As did Japan. China has been fixing prices and mulipating trade for years they cheat at it. They steal american ideas and manufacture a lower quality product and counterfeit knock offs . they also produce more pollution then any nation without regards to health or safety. Im not a republican if that’s what you think. But its very important for the national defense if we keep some or more then 60% of the manufacturing in the USA.
Far too many products are being made overseas and in mexico. I believe canada is our step brother and a dear freind, Japan is our trade ally as is most European nations.
our grand fathers built things for a fair price that lasted a lifetime, why can’t we also build the best?
I agree with you 100%. Our country is invaded economically by China and other’s while our politicians are stupid enough to focus on wars across the world. Trillion of dollars has been wasted on wars. The money our administration spent on wars can be used to keep America the greatest country in the world. I don’t give a crap about Democrats or Republicans, all I care about is making our country strong by focusing on buying Made in America products. Before you click the button on your computer to buy stuff on Ebay or Amazon, think a little, where is my money going to?