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Home » The cost of tariffs
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The cost of tariffs

September 4, 2019
David Maloney
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Last September, I wrote about the Trump administration's latest round of tariffs on Chinese imports. Fast forward a year and to quote Ronald Reagan, "There you go again."

At press time, the U.S. was about to impose another 10-percent tariff on some $300 billion worth of Chinese-made goods (although tariffs on electronics and other consumer goods have been delayed until December to shore up holiday sales). That's on top of other tariffs already on the books. So, have all of these tariffs really had the effect of leveling the playing field, bringing manufacturing back to the United States, and curtailing the theft of intellectual property? The simple answer is—well, not really. You see, it's rather complicated.

In the short term, the tariffs are quite painful—although not necessarily for the intended target. While the tariffs are meant to punish the Chinese government, China does not pay any actual tariffs. Those are levied on importers of Chinese goods, with the costs typically passed along to American consumers.

The hope is that China will be affected indirectly, as companies pull manufacturing out of China and bring it back to the U.S. So, how's that been going?

According to a study released by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in May, 41 percent of member companies were "considering or have relocated manufacturing facilities outside of China." But less than 6 percent of those members are reshoring any of their production to the United States. Instead, they're going to Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, India, Cambodia, and Mexico. Hasbro, for instance, is moving some of its toy manufacturing from China to factories in Vietnam and India.

To make up for the loss of American manufacturing, China has been marketing its factories to companies from Europe and other Asian countries, and in many cases, undercutting costs to keep machines humming. This makes it harder for American businesses that manufacture elsewhere to compete.

Anticipating the tariffs, many companies scheduled holiday orders to arrive before the September tariffs hit. Ports have done a brisk business. In fact, in July, the Port of New York & New Jersey leapt past Long Beach to become the nation's second-busiest port, with some of that business coming across the Atlantic from countries like India and Pakistan. It remains to be seen whether the pattern will continue once peak season ends and the latest round of tariffs takes full effect.

So, while the tariffs are driving some business away from China, the shift is coming at a high cost. I believe the Trump administration would do better to learn to negotiate rather than bullying its opponents to get what it wants.

Transportation Supply Chain Services Maritime & Ocean Global Logistics
KEYWORDS Port Authority of New York & New Jersey Port of Long Beach
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Davidmaloney
David Maloney has been a journalist for more than 35 years and is currently the editorial director for DC Velocity and Supply Chain Quarterly magazines. In this role, he is responsible for the editorial content of both brands of Agile Business Media. Dave joined DC Velocity in April of 2004. Prior to that, he was a senior editor for Modern Materials Handling magazine. Dave also has extensive experience as a broadcast journalist. Before writing for supply chain publications, he was a journalist, television producer and director in Pittsburgh. Dave combines a background of reporting on logistics with his video production experience to bring new opportunities to DC Velocity readers, including web videos highlighting top distribution and logistics facilities, webcasts and other cross-media projects. He continues to live and work in the Pittsburgh area.

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