Stop buying Chinese parts.
Make parts in America.
They will cost more. Get over it.
A whole thread was just deleted over Tariffs/politics, and Tariffs WILL go back down that rabbit hole!!!
@cdaquila do you want to stop this one now or later, your choice…
I don’t even need to read the article. As soon as the Tariffs were mentioned most people new things like that were going to happen.
If you don’t buy foreign made parts, there are often no parts to buy. This is a practical response, not political.
Well, I guess it might make sense… if somebody is willing to wait for the 3-4 years it would take in order to build those US factories. I think that most people would need to drive their vehicle sooner than 3-4 years from now, but maybe I’m wrong.
Longer than that. By the time a company decides where to locate, gets tax breaks from the state, buys the land, construct a building, buys and installs the equipment, and hire the staff, it could easily be ten years or more. Given the high volatility of the current economic environment in the US, few businesses will decide to onshore production at this time. Toyota is touting expansion of their facilities in Georgetown, KY. This happened to occur right now and they are taking advantage of the situation, but they planned that expansion long ago.
Sure, it takes a long time to build a new factory on vacant land…however there are many closed factories, which could be re-tooled and reopened much faster. You are correct that no one is going to build a new factory in response to Trump’s tariffs, however perhaps some idled plants will be reopened.
One candidate for governor in my state has proposed the conversion of old, abandoned factories into low-cost housing for the younger people who can’t afford to move out of their parents’ basement. This could be an attractive proposal… if she is elected… because the average rent nowadays in this area is more than $2k per month for a 1 bedroom apt.
On an unrelated note, my section of NJ seems to be turning into warehouse territory. Abandoned farms have been sold to Amazon and others, and huge warehouses have risen in the place of what had been wide-open spaces. The most bizarre example is a family near me that owned a very large piece of land, and a warehouse is now being erected–literally–in their back yard. The access road for 18-wheelers will be ~50 feet from their driveway.
Because they have no nearby neighbors, I guess that nobody objected, but it surely looks bizarre to have a warehouse in their backyard, and I think that their house will not be saleable when the time comes for them to move on to a retirement home.
How many closed factories are suitable for the new operation? Old buildings are often torn down so that the new owner can have an efficient operation with modern utilities appropriate for their use. It’s not just 4 walls and a roof.
It just depends. Don’t forget before the parts were shipped to China with the tooling, they were made here. In our town the plant that was built to produce hvac equipment is now producing cans. Same plant, just their own equipment.
When I would blow into town to visit the wife, I would often stay at the YMCA for a dollar a night. Lots of plants downtown have been converted to high priced apartments. It’s trendy but agree gov should stay out of it.
Yup!
And that trend began in the early '80s, under Ronnie Ray-gun, and accelerated under both Bushes. Here is an interesting–albeit lengthy–analysis of the decline of manufacturing in The US:
The authors discussed the combination of research and manufacturing as a multiplier to continue growth in a sector. This seems to be true in pharmaceuticals. Research funded largely by NIH led to understanding the nature of diseases and that lead to the development of drugs by industry to respond to the illnesses. Unfortunately, decreases in NIH funding won’t give manufacturing a direction to move towards. Sure, the drug companies could pick up the basic research, but that will increase the cost of already astronomically priced new drugs.
Replacement cost for a 1987 Toyota or a 2007 Equinox shouldn’t increase much, how much will medical expenses increase? Isn’t personal injury a greater expense than auto repair when dealing with vehicle accidents?
Are we to believe motorists will need to wait 3 to 4 years for a factory to be built to manufacture replacement headlights for their Hyundai? Probably not going to work out that way, just another media tariff scare.
Most OEM vehicle parts are manufactured in countries other than China, many of those countries will come to a fair-trade agreement in order to get their share of the U.S. market.
Walmart and Autozone might have empty shelves for a while.
Doesn’t hurt my feelings at all. I don’t like any of them. They tell me though jeb is the worst one considering the drug flights to South America. As they say at st. Olaf, fram fram Kristen krossmen. Clean em all out.
In the long run, waiting for domestic supply isn’t going to result in any savings for a buyer. The cost of labor here will drive up the cost of domestic sourced and built cars to the same or higher cost than the tariffs being applied now.
Exactly
Because labor costs in The US are so much higher than in China, or in Southeastern Asian nations, moving the production of cars & car parts to The US from those nations will not result in a lower cost for consumers. There is also the likelihood that the addition of even more robotics to US manufacturing would mean that the number of “new” US jobs in car/car parts manufacturing would be minimal.
How? I don’t buy parts from China. I buy them from a parts supplier who buys them from China. If that’s the only parts available what are you doing to do?
Tell that to the auto manufacturers. They’ve been outsourcing more and more parts every year for DECADES. We are now at the point it’ll take years or decades to bring back manufacturing of many items to the US just to build the infrastructure. With Biden’s chip act to bring back manufacturing tech to the US is a great example. Companies and were all on board with BILLIONS of dollars of government backing. So far we’ve brought back less than 5%. There are many manufacturing plants in the planning and construction phase, but it’ll be well over 10 years before we’ll be where we need to be.
Tell that to the Auto manufacturers.
I read an AP reprint in today’s newspaper. The original is linked below. Towards the end of the article, they cite estimated cost increases for toys. Brats dolls will rise to about $40 from $15 and L.O.L dolls could double in price. Little Tikes cars, assembled in Ohio from Chinese parts, could jump from $65 to $90.
I don’t think the main focus can be price reduction. That may or may not happen. There are just a number of items that never should have been outsourced to China including medical, military, and other critical supply items.
If they start making Briggs engines in Wisconsin again, I would expect the price to be higher. My blower engine had to be replaced under warranty. Never said exactly why except a part wasn’t properly heat treated. I suspect the cam. Better to pay a couple hundred more than go through the hassle. Not a criitical issue like bolts on a bridge. Would you rather pay more for a bolt you know meets specs in a critical assembly or take your chance?