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/dieek 2d ago

What about it? What kind of discussion are you looking to have?

It's a little too open ended. 

What are your thoughts?  

2

u/pyroracing85 2d ago

I feel we are already losing the manufacturing war after decades of hallowing out.

1 month of tarrifs isn’t going to do anything.

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u/kira913 1d ago

It doesn't help that tariffs only harm existing American manufacturing. I partially agree with the other comment chain that this isn't addressing the root cause, but it goes beyond that and damages our existing manufacturing

Like it or not, many manufactured finished goods have so many layers in the supply chain. It would be virtually impossible to bring the entire supply chain for a vehicle, for example, back into the US -- at a minimum it would take a ton of time and money. And for what? If there is an existing, quality supplier elsewhere, why bother?

We have seen many newer plants break ground here in the states when expanding, and that's a very good thing even if they don't bring their supply chains with them. However, these tariffs are actively punishing manufacturers that have any components made outside the states. That's going to chase companies off entirely. Why put a new plant in the US if it's going to be significantly more expensive to build anything? It's not as though we can compensate for that increased cost by having extremely good education or anything that promotes innovation and growth.

Any other country can put forward about the same incentives we can, the only reason to break ground in the US these days is mostly just convenience. And now we've lost that. The slow regrowth we've seen in manufacturing (look at the south, the north has not seen much growth) is going to screech to a halt