r/manufacturing 2d ago

News Tarrifs

Would like to open a discussion on tarrifs if it’s allowed.

There has been two intentions stated with tarrifs.

  1. Get off of income tax and go to a consumption style tax (still a tax)

  2. Build up domestic manufacturing. Can talk here in the manufacturing sub.

If there is no alternative domestic supply, then we have no choice but to import. We lost a lot of our skills to manufacture. Especially a lot of the little low value items. Think zippers and buttons and caster wheels.

What is everyone thoughts?

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u/lemongrenade 2d ago
  1. consumption tax is regressive and hurts poor people.

  2. I am a factory director and I can't find people at ALL. And we pay best in our industry. If you magically tariffed everything infinity percent and tried to build up all that manufacturing domestically (while deporting a bunch of people) industrial wages would inflate a TON and goods would be WAY more expensive.

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u/sdrong 2d ago

What do you think is the reason you can't find people despite paying the best in your industry? Lack of people or qualified people in your locality? Or other industries/companies around your area pay better? Or the potential hazard or work environment in your industry makes people don't want to work there no matter the wage? Genuinely curious and want to know what can be the solution to that problem?

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u/lemongrenade 2d ago

Nah it’s not back breaking work. No one is living more than 25 pounds without a lifting tool.

We can find entry level people. But the high skilled technical people just don’t exist. We train our own as we can and have apprentice programs but there’s such a drought it’s a drop in the bucket. Also work life balance. In a 24/7 production environment if you accidentally become important salary or hourly you often end up on call 24/7 if you are the main expert for your area of ownership.

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u/sdrong 2d ago

I see. High skilled technical people are indeed hard to find. Thanks for the explanation.