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Hardware hacker Bunnie Huang has written concrete details in his blog about how the new US tariffs are anti-maker and will promote offshoring. However, it is not quite too late ... yet. With the right pushback it might be possible to salvage the situation.
The new 25% tariffs announced by the USTR, set to go into effect on July 6th, are decidedly anti-Maker and ironically pro-offshoring. I've examined the tariff lists (List 1 and List 2), and it taxes the import of basic components, tools and sub-assemblies, while giving fully assembled goods a free pass. The USTR's press release is careful to mention that the tariffs "do not include goods commonly purchased by American consumers such as cellular telephones or televisions."
[...] There is a sliver of good news in all of this for American Makers. The list of commodities targeted in the trade war is not yet complete. The "List 2" items – which include all manner of microchips, motors, and plastics (such as 3D printer PLA filament and acrylic sheets for laser cutting) that are building blocks for small businesses and Makers – have yet to be ratified. The USTR website has indicated in the coming weeks they will disclose a process for public review and comment.
(Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Saturday June 23 2018, @03:09PM (2 children)
I think most of those tariffs you mention are retaliatory, for the latest round of silliness ... not sure about the jeans though. I know we do make Levis jeans in Canada.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Saturday June 23 2018, @04:37PM (1 child)
I agree, the European tariffs are retaliatory.
And I expect that the tariffs currently in place against China will also provoke an additional response, despite the reasons that the US Government claims they have been imposed.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 23 2018, @05:52PM
Irrelevant. To your typical Trump voter, he's stickin' it to the man and givin' the other fella Hell! USA USA USA!