With the Chinese tariffs taking hold on 100% of the imports and maybe even on Mexico forthcoming, the audio industry is going to see another big jump in their sky high prices. Anyone making purchases ASAP to get lower prices from existing inventory before post tariff products enter the marketplace?
I'm basically against tariffs because they are in reality a VAT tax on the U.S. consumer. But, when it comes to China, I'm all for pressuring them with tariffs.
China is our economic enemy, soon to become our military enemy. They steal our technology. If a U.S. Corporation wants to manufacture in China, China insists on a 51% control of the business. This allows them to steal the patents.
The manipulation of their currency is detrimental to us also. So is their dumping of products on our shores at less than cost with the intent of driving U.S. competition out of business.
Will these tariffs on Chinese goods hurt in the short term? Yes ... but its the long term that counts.
We can talk about China stealing our military secrets later ...
I don’t see this as a solely political issue. We talk about audio and higher prices will effect ALL of us because of gas going up (as nonoise pointed out) and the parts we get from China that go into US made audio (as Elizabeth mentioned). So this is a very relevant topic, despite the political nature of tariffs.
If Chinese seriously restrict export of rare earth elements to the US, directly and indirectly, prices certainly will go up because of that too. Tariffs and other interesting moves are also economical - ordinary people will have to pay more. One does not have to buy high end audio but everyone, well almost, buys phones computers and other stuff. Brave new world is not only going to be quite a mess it is going to be more expensive as well. Good luck, brothers.
I suspect that we would all agree that tariffs create an upward pressure on price while at the same time, competition creates either a leveling or downward pressure. I wouldn't be surprised if a year from now, looking back, overall audio prices went up 5-10%...not 25%.
And, an unintended but likely consequence is that preowned gear will be a little bit more attractive and the downward price trend my reverse.
@gs5556 . It will take some time for current stock to be sold at Harbor Freight. Hopefully, they won't increase prices until then, unlike gasoline distributors- who increase the price even though the gas in the holding tanks was bought before the price increase. B
What needs to be closely watched is the price of gas. We import 600,000-700,000 barrels of crude from Mexico on a daily basis and Mexico is our largest buyer of our refined gasoline at over 1million barrels a day.
Factor in the cost of gas when transporting goods and you'll see an even larger bump in the end price of your audio gear.
I don't get it. Tariffs are a political action. The OP's opening statement is politically based. Some responses of a political nature are deleted yet others remain. Must be nice to have one's head in the sand. Naivety abounds.
Regardless, what the tariffs are doing is speeding up the diversification of manufacturing facilities to the entire far east.
And that’s a good thing, for everyone. Centralization kills, as the the only thing it consolidates, in the end - is power.
Made in Thailand, made in Vietnam, made in Malaysia, made in the Philippines, etc...such notices are starting to be more prevalent on the back of gear.
No political statements here. But consider: Schiit Audio. Emotiva’s best. Magnepan. Modwright. Many others to choose from. Let your conscience be your guide. They’ve always been there. Time to come back home.
None of my current or planned audio gear comes from China or Mexico. Tariffs are a non-factor in my world of audio, but I do recognize some quality gear does come from China for sure. With the exception of my speakers (UK) and TT (Slovenia), all my gear is made in the USA.
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