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Wyze pays $255k of tariffs on $167k of floodlights

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Re: Wyze pays $255k of tariffs on $167k of floodlights

#111

Post by mayama »

itake wrote: post #55
spaceman_2020 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple is shifting its production to India, but in reality, the phones are just assembled in India. All the components are made in China, shipped to India, where they are put together. China still captures 90% of the value

I don't know the latest, but as of like 6-8 mo ago. India hasn't been able to produce much (anything?), despite having millions of dollars of Chinese equipment ready to be put into use.

India has been producing mobiles for local consumption for few years now. Sure, almost everything was imported initially. But, recently govt is targeting PLI for specific mobile components like PCB, screen, camera modules, enclosures etc. CPU/SOC still has to be imported though. 10% of apple iphones are already manufactured in India.

Re: Wyze pays $255k of tariffs on $167k of floodlights

#112

Post by ahstilde »

glimshe wrote: post #110
atwrk wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks to the chicken tax we already know how this will develop: The US floodlight company will sell those US-made lights these lights for ~400k (so at the margin of market price plus tariffs), and no one outside the US will want to buy them. This is literally what already happened with the US car industry.

There are many companies all over the world focused on local markets. The car industry is strategic, but I wouldn't mind buying a floodlight from a company that doesn't export anything.

So you want a worse floodlight at a higher price because of government protection?

Re: Wyze pays $255k of tariffs on $167k of floodlights

#113

Post by mayama »

lucianbr wrote: post #76
JSR_FDED wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Straightforward circumvention like that isn’t allowed (I’m not saying it won’t work). The new companies you mention would only be entitled to thelower tariffs on the value they add to the product they buy from China.

But how much visibility can the US government have into what happens between India and China? Especially if they work at hiding this stuff. I'm not saying it will work, I'm just curious. How can you tell how much of a product is made in India vs China if India and China work together to lie to you about it?

Regarding India, Indian govt already has huge tariffs and non tariff barriers on China. They imposed many of those during Galwan valley standoff and later extended them when they are promoting manufacturing or PLI for specific sectors. Indian govt and local Indian manufacturers won't allow middlemen to come and relabel items and eat in to their share of the pie. Sure, with the corrupted Indian bureaucracy some relabling will still go through, but it wont be much. Not sure how US plans to deal with relabling in Cambodia, Mexico etc. though.

Re: Wyze pays $255k of tariffs on $167k of floodlights

#114

Post by mayama »

timewizard wrote: post #48
vijaybritto wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah and it has no effect because its done by companies not countries. This is gonna continue for a long time. Its an incredible time to be a middle man

I thought a majority of Chinese businesses are state owned. Their neighbors understand the stakes though and have demonstrated eagerness to have low US tariff rates. I assume their customs agencies will be on the lookout for this relabeling strategy. It's going to occur, as it already does occur, for all kinds of reasons, but it's not going to be as simple as you make it out to be. There is a limited capacity to perf…

Long term it will work. If foreign govt allow getting around tariffs, according to trump import deficit formula, tariff on the govt will go up. Usgov could also increase tariff on countries with more companies doing tariff shenanigans. The problem is with american 2 year election/midterm cycle no one believes that this will last more then 3-6 months now.

Re: Wyze pays $255k of tariffs on $167k of floodlights

#116

Post by glimshe »

ahstilde wrote: post #112
glimshe wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are many companies all over the world focused on local markets. The car industry is strategic, but I wouldn't mind buying a floodlight from a company that doesn't export anything.

So you want a worse floodlight at a higher price because of government protection?

If it employs an American and helps recreate our middle class... Yes I do.

First they came for the floodlight maker's job. Next they will come for yours.

Re: Wyze pays $255k of tariffs on $167k of floodlights

#117

Post by 0x000xca0xfe »

ENGNR wrote: post #101
prof-dr-ir wrote: post #31

Similarly HYTE, mostly known for their PC cases, gives a remarkably detailed insight, both into their cost structure and how they are impacted by tariffs, in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1W_mSOS1Qts&t=1394s They also address the question of moving their production to the US.

Was super interesting. I of course feel for them as a small business. They took risk and did the numbers and are trying to bring something great to their customers. One angle I didn’t see covered in response… dropping the quality on the product. If America just isn’t there yet on manufacturing, and people still only want to pay $139 for a computer case… surely someone in America can sell the customer a box of some so…

Only works for low-tech stuff. You simply can't make a mainboard out of plywood. And why exactly would you want low-tech manufacturing jobs producing crappy knock-off products in the US? This really does not look like a good strategy.

Re: Wyze pays $255k of tariffs on $167k of floodlights

#118

Post by jpgvm »

twoodfin wrote: post #108
danesparza wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh?

Both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were huge free traders, and Barack Obama largely carried on that bi-partisan tradition. But the resurgent left of the Democratic Party, inspired by the anti-WTO “Battle of Seattle” and led by folks like Elizabeth Warren, made free trade toxic to enough of the party that Hillary Clinton in 2016 felt she needed to come out against Obama’s Trans-Pacific Partnership which she herself…

The TTP was structured as the economic equivalent of the Island Chain containment. It's conception lead to Made in China 2025 which wasn't rolled back just because USA withdrew from TPP.

Obama had the right idea, Trump if he understood it (lol) would have used it to screw China instead of giving China a free pass by withdrawing from it.

Note that China US relations soured under Obama, well before Trump came into the picture and most of it was a direct result of TPP and policies like it designed to contain China economically.

Re: Wyze pays $255k of tariffs on $167k of floodlights

#119

Post by badestrand »

atwrk wrote: post #90
badestrand wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A tax on foreign labor, to be exact. (Not foreign products or materials per se).

Actually it's an import tax - the importer pays it, not the foreign worker.

Yes, true of course.

But I meant that if you take an example of tshirt production that gets sold in the US, with fabric that comes from Bangladesh, one producer in Vietnam, one in the US. The final price consists of materials, labor, shipping. Both effectively have materials and shipping tariffed and for the Vietnam company additionally the labor is tariffed.

So the only difference is the application of the tariff on the labor for the Vietnam company.

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