Trump tariffs & tool prices

[Katomi woodsmith]

I dont know how much it will affect tool prices,,, I can just se the notice at the car boot sale
Price increase due to trump lol

 

[Fergie 307]

Attractive as it is, at some point all these cheap imports from China will have to stop. If allowed to go on unchecked they will gradually hollow out all the production facilities in America and Europe.

Free-trade is treated like some holy writ, whereas it also has its bad sides as well as its good. There are already tariffs on some Chinese goods where the trade was deemed to be unfair.

Further tariffs will have to be applied to safeguard a basic production facility in the countries of the West. Cheaper imported goods are allowing the wages of the poorer in society to stagnate. At some point action of sorts will have to be taken, and whoever makes the first move will probably suffer the most.


We have become addicted to cheap goods but at some point we will have to go 'cold turkey' It is best to do this sooner rather than later..Or become so dependant that when the 'cheap imports' eventually become 'dear imports' our economies will not survive the shock.

Looking at the state of our steel industry and many manufactured goods, especially electricals, I think your perfectly valid point is about ten years or more too late

 

[niall Y]

Looking at the state of our steel industry and many manufactured goods, especially electricals, I think your perfectly valid point is about ten years or more too late

You could well be correct, and it is too little, too late. It is said that trade is war under another guise. And , China has fought a faultless campaign.

I remember a friend telling me, well over 30 years ago,about being approached at trade fair, by Chinese, offering to make all his products at much lower prices. He didn't accept their offers, but others obviously have over the years,

As well as having their own internet sales outlets, they virtually dominate Ebay for some products. And no sale seems to be too small to bother with .

They obviously don't have to contend with the inconvenience of Democracy or 4year fixed terms of governments. Or even the niceties of governments not subsidising production. They have laid down new 'silk routes' into Europe via road and rail.
There has also been a concerted effort to pay for their students to attend western universities and enrol them on advanced scientific and technological, courses.

They have also been active in safeguarding their access to raw materials in Africa and Australia and elsewhere in the world.

So , I would argue - a planned and pretty faultless campaign.

 

[Fergie 307]

They are very quick learners, to the extent that they seem to be able to quickly become major players, or dominate any sector they turn their hand to. And they have really upped their game quality wise. It only seems like a few years ago when much of their tools and other stuff was certainly cheap, but the quality was pretty dreadful.
Nowadays they are turning out some very good stuff, and still at prices that are very competitive.
I recently got a capstan attachment for my lathe so needed some 3/4 inch straight shank tool holders of various kinds.
All eventually Chinese because I just couldn't afford to pay the prices for even second hand western stuff.
The quality of these things was very good indeed. You can't help looking at some of this stuff and thinking much of our manufacturing industry really is doomed when they can turn out stuff of high quality, ship it half way round the world, and still charge half the price.
And yes I know I am contributing to the problem, but aren't we all to a greater or lesser extent?
Quite depressing really.

 

[SammyQ]

They are very quick learners, to the extent that they seem to be able to quickly become major players, or dominate any sector they turn their hand to. And they have really upped their game quality wise. It only seems like a few years ago when much of their tools and other stuff was certainly cheap, but the quality was pretty dreadful.
Nowadays they are turning out some very good stuff, and still at prices that are very competitive.
.....You can't help looking at some of this stuff and thinking much of our manufacturing industry really is doomed when they can turn out stuff of high quality, ship it half way round the world, and still charge half the price.
And yes I know I am contributing to the problem, but aren't we all to a greater or lesser extent?
Quite depressing really.

Ah yes, the power of a dictatorship. Ji was worth £1.6 billion five years ago, in traceable assets. Gawd only knows how much more is hidden behind family, frontmen and layers of shell companies and wealth management frontmen. He - and his ruling cabal - do it with forced labour (Uyghurs anybody?) and rigid suppression of dissent (see Dong Yuyu on Google).
I agree, Fergie, it's difficult to avoid the stealth economics of the Chinese, and totally agree, it is depressing.

 

[niemeyjt]

Most western politicians are on a four or five year cycle. Xi is a dictator for life. With no elections to worry about it aids long term planning.

 

[Terry - Somerset]

I spent the first half of my working life in manufacturing and engineering industries. In 1992 I fell victim to the then recession and moved into the services sector.

It was clear by then the only future for UK manufacturing was at the top end of the market where design, specification, precision etc was key - an area where brains matter. That churned out in high volumes by much lower cost manufacturers overseas would not survive in the UK.

It was bought home to me by a UK car components manufacturer I visited - they were only able to get a major contract by agreeing to year on year price reductions - ultimately unsustainable.

The importance of manufacturing to the UK economy is now small - it represents less than 10% of GDP which is dominated by service industries. Leaving aside the strategic issue of reliance for critical products on other countries - does it matter.

A simple truth - that which is easy to make at a low cost has little value. If a screwdriver was a £500 piece of engineering it would be valued, at £15 for a complete set it is inconsequential.

There is still a place for specialist UK manufacturers - but they will only ever serve a small part of the total market prepared to pay a premium price for a premium product.

 

[worker]

You’ll be lucky

As for buying tools I’ve always bought the best I could afford working on the premise if I come to sell them they will hold there value, now I only own one Lie Nielsen plane but judging by it’s current price for once I was right.

That's partly my thinking before deciding (I.e. convincing myself) - as long as I maintain them I should be able to make a decent sum back if choose to sell. But is still dear amount to put down for a hobby which I have limited time for.

It doesn't matter a jot what the world does, UK prices will keep going up.

Using WayBackMachine for ClassicHandTools, I see the prices have been stable for the last year or so. But I wonder if tariffs would affect LN and force them up increase prices for their overseas distributors. As I understand it, they use American suppliers but I doubt the supply chain would be completely clean of foreign input.

I'll be putting my trusty Record No 4 & 5 to work this weekend and see how I feel about replacing them.