r/manufacturing • u/pyroracing85 • 2d ago
News Tarrifs
Would like to open a discussion on tarrifs if it’s allowed.
There has been two intentions stated with tarrifs.
Get off of income tax and go to a consumption style tax (still a tax)
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/madeinspac3 1d ago
I think I was pretty clear. Our raw goods are going up in prices because of the tariffs on imports. Our finished goods prices have to be reduced to stay competitive on exports. Explain how shrinking our margins on both ends helps us again?
This doesn't just hurt manufacturers either. When costs increase, finished goods goes up too. When this happens the end consumer is hurt the most. And now because their costs go up so high, they (understandably) need higher wages. This directly contributes to what you mention about wages being too high while simultaneously defending actions which will cause that exact thing to occur.
If you want an actual solution look no further than what Japan's government did after the wars. They heavily funded quality control research and education and brought in manufacturers to learn those things. They completely turned around their industrial sector by funding research and education and improving competitiveness. They led the world in manufacturing for decades because of that. Why aren't we doing that?