US Tariff War

A large number of US company bosses have been trooping through the White House this week warng Trump that in two weeks time, American shelves will start emptying of goods thanks to Chinese manufactired imports being taxed to the hilt. This will be accompanied by by substantial price hikes.
 
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BlueAnorak said:
A large number of US company bosses have been trooping through the White Housecthiscweek warng Trump tgat in two weeks time, American shelves will start emptying of goods thanks to Chinese manufactired imports being taxed to the hilt. This will be accompanied by by substantial price hikes.
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I feel like that's something that needs to happen because some people are too thick to realise until they see it with their own eyes (wallets).

I watched a video about cameras the other day, and apparently BH Photo are already running out of stock of certain lenses. Canon are rumoured to be adding 8-9% to the retail price and Fujifilm have already suspended US orders on some products. I think what's happening is that people who were going to buy something are all buying it quickly before the price hikes occur and the stock isn't being replaced. And a lot of the cheaper stuff, which is more sensitive to price hikes, is made in China. The higher end stuff is still often made in Japan.
 
I'm With Stupid said:
I feel like that's something that needs to happen because some people are too thick to realise until they see it with their own eyes (wallets).

I watched a video about cameras the other day, and apparently BH Photo are already running out of stock of certain lenses. Canon are rumoured to be adding 8-9% to the retail price and Fujifilm have already suspended US orders on some products. I think what's happening is that people who were going to buy something are all buying it quickly before the price hikes occur and the stock isn't being replaced. And a lot of the cheaper stuff, which is more sensitive to price hikes, is made in China. The higher end stuff is still often made in Japan.
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We’re at the stage where the people struggling want change at whatever cost.

The concept that that change could make things infinitely worse for them doesn’t compute with them.

There’s no reasoning with them either, so they have to experience it first hand.

All we can hope in the U.K. is that they see the consequences of what’s happening in the US and enough see the insanity of what Trump is doing, but he’s no doubt being told how to play the tariff card without it actually ever affecting too many.

The gullible will only realise they are gullible when their businesses fold.
 
In the States, car dealers are literally advertising their stock as “buy before our tariffed cars arrive and save thousands!” I heard a Kia dealer on the radio just today and I’ve seen segments on TV where they’re talking about even US built cars will require a tariff premium because of all the parts they have to import for final assembly!
 
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ChicagoBlue said:
In the States, car dealers are literally advertising their stock as “buy before our tariffed cars arrive and save thousands!” I head a Kia dealer on the radio just today and I’ve seen segments on TV where they’re talking about even US built cars will require a tariff premium because of all the parts they have to import for final assembly!
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Yep, it's insane. I saw a comment from one guy on social media saying something like, "My wife is from China. China had tariffs for years, so I don't see how this is any different." Ignoring the fact that China (and before it Korea) had tariffs on very specific industries they were trying to build up, with a clear plan for how they build up the infrastructure to make them themselves, as well as a plan to remove tariffs once those industries are built up. Trump has none of these things.
 
I'm With Stupid said:
I feel like that's something that needs to happen because some people are too thick to realise until they see it with their own eyes (wallets).
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Just to put it out there — the vast majority of them wouldn’t change their vote under any circumstances WHATEVER happens. They will never ever ever blame Trump, or themselves. Hopefully enough will come the midterms. But under no circumstances will he lose 9 of 10 of his voters.
 
One thing I'm surprised I've not seen come up in all of this is the absolute rampant tax dodging behaviour overwhelmingly carried out by American corporations to rob governments around the world of their legitimate tax intake. I remember when Costa Coffee was the place people went when they were boycotting Starbucks over the 15p of tax they paid. A few years later, it's owned by Coca Cola and is just another tax-dodging mega corporation. Since this is supposed to be about fairness, maybe the issue of American corporations rampant theft of tax revenues needs to be in the discussion. And yes, I know that corporations from other countries also do it, but the America corporations are by far the more egregious.
 
I'm With Stupid said:
One thing I'm surprised I've not seen come up in all of this is the absolute rampant tax dodging behaviour overwhelmingly carried out by American corporations to rob governments around the world of their legitimate tax intake. I remember when Costa Coffee was the place people went when they were boycotting Starbucks over the 15p of tax they paid. A few years later, it's owned by Coca Cola and is just another tax-dodging mega corporation. Since this is supposed to be about fairness, maybe the issue of American corporations rampant theft of tax revenues needs to be in the discussion. And yes, I know that corporations from other countries also do it, but the America corporations are by far the more egregious.
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Bloody hell I had no idea Cista were now owned by Coca Cola. I’ve been blindly sticking to my “at least they pay their taxes” line. They may still do for all I know but it’s a bit of a shock.

I try and look for independent coffee shops anyway but Costa has until now been the fall back.
 
journolud said:
Bloody hell I had no idea Cista were now owned by Coca Cola. I’ve been blindly sticking to my “at least they pay their taxes” line. They may still do for all I know but it’s a bit of a shock.

I try and look for independent coffee shops anyway but Costa has until now been the fall back.
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Yep, I think that's the only way really. Caffe Nero paid fuck all on 2 billion revenues between 2007 and 2013, and I can't imagine they've got any better since then. As far as I'm aware, Pret was a chain that actually paid taxes properly, although a lot of the controversy around this issue is from about 10 years ago, so you never know what's happened since then. Almost as if the media aren't doing their job and instead focusing on bullshit.
 
I'm With Stupid said:
Yep, I think that's the only way really. Caffe Nero paid fuck all on 2 billion revenues between 2007 and 2013, and I can't imagine they've got any better since then.
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If they had 2.01 in costs, they didn’t make any profits to tax!
I'm With Stupid said:
As far as I'm aware, Pret was a chain that actually paid taxes properly, although a lot of the controversy around this issue is from about 10 years ago, so you never know what's happened since then. Almost as if the media aren't doing their job and instead focusing on bullshit.
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Are Pret a UK corp that is required to pay taxes by law?

Btw, it’s the international tax laws, not the corporations, that are the problem. As a shareholder of corporations, I want them to pay as little tax as the law allows so they can improve their share prices. This is capitalism and how global business works.

Do YOU pay taxes you’re not legally required to?

Dodge taxes and you deserve to have the book thrown at you, though! Back taxes, interest & penalties!
 
I'm With Stupid said:
I feel like that's something that needs to happen because some people are too thick to realise until they see it with their own eyes (wallets).

I watched a video about cameras the other day, and apparently BH Photo are already running out of stock of certain lenses. Canon are rumoured to be adding 8-9% to the retail price and Fujifilm have already suspended US orders on some products. I think what's happening is that people who were going to buy something are all buying it quickly before the price hikes occur and the stock isn't being replaced. And a lot of the cheaper stuff, which is more sensitive to price hikes, is made in China. The higher end stuff is still often made in Japan.
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It will show how dependent on China we have become which will be a very good thing as we are not at war at the moment.
But Jezz Trump is an arse.
We need to move overseas production to multiple countries ASAP - not just China.
 
BlueAnorak said:
We need to move overseas production to multiple countries ASAP - not just China.
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As already pointed out by Apple , this is a pipedream.

China has longterm (30+ years) planning, from very strong education at all levels (nursery onwards) through to specialized technical training, and then finally manufacturing with efficient, highly skilled streamlined supply chains.

The talk of moving/starting any new technical manufacturing base, from China to the US is just an impossibility:
No skilled workforce spare capacity(the us ‘imports’ huge amounts of skilled labour as well as the manual labour).
High labour costs, further exacerbated by previous point.
No longterm realistic planning to address the widening gap of education and knowledge - see UK as well.
Short termism cost cutting profit driven companies.
Short termism politics that about faces direction every 4 years, leading to more short termism.
 
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