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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

#71
post #40

Could someone explain to an idiot like me what the benefit of this is to the americans?

If they had bought American floodlights they had saved 255k in tarrifs. So if they had paid 200k for the floodlights they would have still been better of. One could argue, that there might be no American Floodlight Company - well here is the incentive to build one. Secondly the money isn't lost, it goes to the state. Like a tax, but it is called differently. With this 255k more the state can now subsidise the local f…

> Like a tax,

It is a tax

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

#72
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He’s already said they will reduce the tariffs on China. He insisted there will be some tariffs but 145% is too high and it will come down. A company moving their production anywhere based on what the policy is right now would be foolish because the policy could change in the next 5 mins, but will almost certainly change within minutes if there are empty shelves.

In the same sense any company still operating in a environment like this and not moving their operation to a stable country is foolish to begin with

This is why you won't hear many reports of companies paying these huge tariffs. Wyze is big enough to eat the high costs on some of their imports. Most companies will redirect their shipments to Europe and Africa and pause sales in the US until the situation becomes more stable.

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

#74
post #58
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they had bought American floodlights they had saved 255k in tarrifs. So if they had paid 200k for the floodlights they would have still been better of. One could argue, that there might be no American Floodlight Company - well here is the incentive to build one. Secondly the money isn't lost, it goes to the state. Like a tax, but it is called differently. With this 255k more the state can now subsidise the local f…

> Secondly the money isn't lost, it goes to the state. Like a tax, but it is called differently. With this 255k more the state can now subsidise the local floodlight industry. Is that what is planned? The US has a lot of dept internationally I assumed the additional money goes into paying that back, or at least stabilize the dollar somehow

During the last Trump trade war with China, there was about $28B paid out to American farmers as “Market Facilitation Payments”. So basically the taxes collected from our own tariffs went to subsidizing the impact of retaliatory tariffs. The whole thing is pretty dumb.

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

#75
post #72
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the same sense any company still operating in a environment like this and not moving their operation to a stable country is foolish to begin with

This is why you won't hear many reports of companies paying these huge tariffs. Wyze is big enough to eat the high costs on some of their imports. Most companies will redirect their shipments to Europe and Africa and pause sales in the US until the situation becomes more stable.

In another reply Wyze said they too paused most of their shipments but decided to eat the cost of this one because it was for a commitment to a retailer.

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

#76

I'm guessing a ton of new companies will pop up overnight in India, Taiwan, Vietnam, S Korea that simply purchase components from China and resell them to the US. Not exactly helping anyone.

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?

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

#77
post #71
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they had bought American floodlights they had saved 255k in tarrifs. So if they had paid 200k for the floodlights they would have still been better of. One could argue, that there might be no American Floodlight Company - well here is the incentive to build one. Secondly the money isn't lost, it goes to the state. Like a tax, but it is called differently. With this 255k more the state can now subsidise the local f…

> Like a tax, It is a tax

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

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

#78
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He’s already said they will reduce the tariffs on China. He insisted there will be some tariffs but 145% is too high and it will come down. A company moving their production anywhere based on what the policy is right now would be foolish because the policy could change in the next 5 mins, but will almost certainly change within minutes if there are empty shelves.

In the same sense any company still operating in a environment like this and not moving their operation to a stable country is foolish to begin with

Are you suggesting moving operations to the US with this comment? It's the US adding all the uncertainty and instability to this environment. Having your operation based in the US makes this worse. You still have tariffs being applied to most of the components you need to assemble your product. You're now subject to more laws and rules changing overnight without the ability to plan ahead for them. If you're a company selling this product worldwide, you now have 100% of your operations subject to uncertainty vs. say 30% that was destined for the US market to begin with.

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

#79
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they had bought American floodlights they had saved 255k in tarrifs. So if they had paid 200k for the floodlights they would have still been better of. One could argue, that there might be no American Floodlight Company - well here is the incentive to build one. Secondly the money isn't lost, it goes to the state. Like a tax, but it is called differently. With this 255k more the state can now subsidise the local f…

Floodlight companies don't appear overnight. I suspect they won't appear at all, given the instability of the tariffs and the fact that the next President (or even the current one) could wipe them off, rendering their shiny new Floodlight factory completely useless overnight. This extends to any industry. Tariffs need to be stable and updated with several months of advance notice - otherwise they don't serve their pu…

It still is a very possible effect.

Yes, less chaos and more predictability would be better obviously but the theoretical foundation is somewhat solid.

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

#80
post #34

Will they have to pay tariffs on the equipment they have to import to manufacture them here?

For sure. The tariffs don‘t make a difference of finished products vs parts of a product.

Production equipment and tooling isn't even parts, it's finished products. So yeah.
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