A stark message for North American modellers

[Webbo]

Yes, it truly amazes me that Trump thinks the US has been hard done by in its trade/exploitation relationships with pretty well all countries around the globe.

Webbo

[Newportnobby]

You will be able to cancel orders if the tariff is still in place when the product arrives.

Unless changes occur in the tariffs I can see that resulting in a large amount of unsold finished product

[Steven B]

Yes, it truly amazes me that Trump thinks the US has been hard done by in its trade/exploitation relationships with pretty well all countries around the globe.

Webbo

Trump just sees the bottom line, the US imports more goods than it exports. Look deeper though and you'll find that even the least we'll off states have a GDP per person around the same levels as the likes of Japan and Germany.

The sad truth is that jobs will be lost and prices will rise. There's no way manufacturing can be rebuilt in the short time between the tariffs being announced and implemented.

He's also missing the other elephant in the room. If overseas companies do shift production to the USA then yes there will be inward investment, but the profits will return to the overseas company - just like the UK.

[Roy L S]

Even taking into account these ludicrously high tariffs it is pie in the sky to think that manufacturing highly detailed model railway products could ever happen in the USA because even if there were a suitable workforce and it could be trained to the necessary standard (both debatable) the labour cost differential would make products so expensive that few could afford them.

As I understand things, just as is the case in the UK, the skilled workforce capable of such assembly work (as modern highly detailed models require) has never existed so it isn't actually a case of bringing anything back anyway.

My big concern is that if the US model railway market, which is pretty substantial is impacted by these tariffs for any period of time such that sales fall off a cliff (which seems probable), then over-capacity at factories in China will develop. This could potentially make production for remaining markets uneconomic even to the extent putting some brands at risk, for example Kader, parent company of Bachmann US that also produce the UK products too.

Worrying times...

Roy

[Paul J]

It is telling that they have to say it is not political. Well, yes it is political but presumably they have to avoid telling their Trump voting customers that they messed up.

[Richard Taylor]

It is telling that they have to say it is not political. Well, yes it is political but presumably they have to avoid telling their Trump voting customers that they messed up.

Yes, exactly. In the same way that the BLI statement had to repeat the Trump lie that this issue is all about "unfair trade practices", which exist only in Trump's head.

[Intercity]

The knock on effect is this could also affect second hand prices.

A second hand model that has been selling for £30 could potentially go to £50 as that price still looks good compared to the RRP, when you have someone in the US looking for the cheapest option it can artificially inflate the local price.

[Jeff_W]

Yes, it truly amazes me that Trump thinks the US has been hard done by in its trade/exploitation relationships with pretty well all countries around the globe.

Webbo

It frustrates me so much that the U.S. elected someone so inept at...anything. He's just a failed reality TV host. I don't normally spout political opinions out in a public forum but I cannot stand that man. Quite a few of the comments in the manufacturers' posts on Facebook are idiots saying "They can just move the factories to the US!!!". It's not that easy.

[retica]

The Chinese manufacturers should send their goods to Indonesia or some other low wages country with low tariffs for final assembly, say putting the trucks on or similar and put a stamp on each model, Made in Indonesia.

[Paul J]

The Chinese manufacturers should send their goods to Indonesia or some other low wages country with low tariffs for final assembly, say putting the trucks on or similar and put a stamp on each model, Made in Indonesia.

Tariff regimes have country of origin rules that prevent that sort of dodge.

They got what they voted for. Fool me once...

[Bigmac]

The Chinese manufacturers should send their goods to Indonesia or some other low wages country with low tariffs for final assembly, say putting the trucks on or similar and put a stamp on each model, Made in Indonesia.

Tariff regimes have country of origin rules that prevent that sort of dodge.

They got what they voted for. Fool me once...

Yep all done to make America great again

[5944]

Yes, it truly amazes me that Trump thinks the US has been hard done by in its trade/exploitation relationships with pretty well all countries around the globe.

Webbo

It frustrates me so much that the U.S. elected someone so inept at...anything. He's just a failed reality TV host. I don't normally spout political opinions out in a public forum but I cannot stand that man. Quite a few of the comments in the manufacturers' posts on Facebook are idiots saying "They can just move the factories to the US!!!". It's not that easy.

That's a bit unfair. He's not just a failed TV host. He's had six of his businesses go bankrupt and had 4000 lawsuits against him or his companies over the years. He's a businessman who's very experienced in failures that make him a lot of money.

[Newportnobby]

Yes, it truly amazes me that Trump thinks the US has been hard done by in its trade/exploitation relationships with pretty well all countries around the globe.

Webbo

It frustrates me so much that the U.S. elected someone so inept at...anything. He's just a failed reality TV host. I don't normally spout political opinions out in a public forum but I cannot stand that man. Quite a few of the comments in the manufacturers' posts on Facebook are idiots saying "They can just move the factories to the US!!!". It's not that easy.

That's a bit unfair. He's not just a failed TV host. He's had six of his businesses go bankrupt and had 4000 lawsuits against him or his companies over the years. He's a businessman who's very experienced in failures that make him a lot of money.

Never let the truth get in the way of a good story

[NTrain]

Model railway manufacturers in both the States and the UK, used to make their own stuff, until they found it cheaper to get them done in China. All of a sudden, Chinese factories were copying the basics and no-one could compete.

You have just got to scan Alibaba and you will find plenty of component parts available,

I have tried to get UK companies to machine up components for me, but they are not interested in small quantities.