60% Tariff
 

That Orange Fella is suggesting he will slap a 60% tariff on imports from China. What will that do to the price of our bikes and our parts? This worries me.

Buy 'em now.

What you really have to do is sell more products to China. It's the only thing that will fix a trade imbalance. The USA was on the receiving end of a tariff long ago...Remember the Boston Tea party? That was even before the Constitution was written!

Keep in mind that a number of things will have to take place before this 60% tarif might take place ;)

Competition is apparently getting a bit cutthroat over there. Just read an article where a smaller manufacturer was faced with taking a production contract at a 10 percent loss or shutting down in hopes another contract might come up later. Just one example. Larger companies evidently aren't feeling the squeeze too much yet.

Pay is apparently going that other countries are taking their work because they can still pay lower wages. So how China took manufacturing away from other countries is starting to happen to them. At least to some small degree. So a tariff on their imports would definitely hurt them but probably would do next to zip as far as cheap imports. Apparently many other countries are ramping up to happily take over selling us our cheap junk.

Pretty interesting to see how things will be playing out in the next few years.

With a 60% tariff, Chinese bikes will have stickers closer to Japanese bikes. But it still looks like there is sufficient cost gap that the Chinabike market would still be viable, especially for someone's first bike they bought to learn on, then get a better one later. Or they just wanted as cheap a commuter/playbike as possible. Also, used Chinese bikes should hold or even improve value when selling after the tariff.

That "promise" to impose a 60% tarif is not realistic, and not happening, ever. Think about it... Cell phones, car parts, all sorts of appliances, cookware, plumbing fixtures, tools, furniture, clothes, even food and manufacturing equipment!

And there are manufacturing and big contract sale agreements between US and worldwide business partners and Chinese companies in existence. It's Business. An anchor on the worldwide economy would be bad for everyone, and could even cause another recession.

The tarif would not be popular at all. This is just another example of populist blather shot from the hip with no forethought. It's a sound bite, that's all.

Don't worry. If prices go up on these bikes and aftermarket parts it will due to inflationary pressure within China, including wage increase demands of an increasingly sophisticated and burgeoning middle class, and materials cost increases. There isn't much we can do about that, except as Tom suggests, buy it before any price increase happens!

The good news is that we are seeing overall quality and incremental improvements in these motorcycles! These would make some price increases justifiable. But for now, we aren't seeing it.

I am sure it will all work out in the end. I am just a worry wart and also these companies have provided us with inexpensive fun, and I don't want to see them suffer.

We've been through this before and survived just fine.

You can still get a base Templar shipped to your door for under $1800, and the M is still under $2K. Lots of fun and quality for the money if you don't have to have a sixth gear. But the X can still be had for just over $2000! Maybe my son should sell his Storm and get on one of them :hmm:

Get whatever spares and maintenance parts you think you might need now...Tools, servicing equipment etc.

tariffs or not, global economies are suffering 1 way or another. China could implode from within.

Some other country will fill in the gaps but it will take delays...either way there's a fairly high probability stuff is only going to get more and more price increases.


Made in China is only as cheap as China is capable.


Welcome to interesting times...