Let's keep an eye on tariffs

[keilau]

US is the biggest toy market for Chinese factories. China is the biggest aviation market for Boeing. Anyone deny that is kidding himself/herself.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/china-s-toy-empire-turns-its-back-on-america-as-tariffs-bite-deep/ar-AA1DXYI5?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=480c60eb7f344739e5286effc4a94cca&ei=20

A trade war will lead to recession for US. China is not a free market where there is no such thing as a recession, but the people in China are hurt even more.

It is interesting to see what happens when your order arrives US customer from China/Hongkong on May 2nd.

[quitcherbitchen]

Most of my Aliexpress order has arrived and what hasn't has made it to customs. No extra fee.

[Delta_19]

You obviously have never been involved in importing large shipments from China. If you had you would know just how much the Chinese government has their hands in Chinese business. It's not a free country over there. Companies exist only as long as they do what the communist request them to do.

I'm well aware of that. To exist to do work with the rest of the world is to become an arm of the ccp.

But that doesn't = ccp telling them to not do work with the usa.


Like I said it you stop using ali as your one point of reference you'll see that even sellers that aren't shipping to the usa on ali are still selling on other platforms.

Ccp isn't telling them to do anything, they are making that choice on thier own based on the platform they sell on.

[Rubicon99]

Well that's a take.

I feel if the Chinese government had any say here a lot more people would be stopping sales with the usa. But in the world of consumer 3d printers both bambu and creality are business as usually just a little more expensive.

If an ali seller isn't selling to the usa it's because they don't want to deal with the headache that's gonna come with Americans not understanding they have to pay the tariffs.

You obviously have never been involved in importing large shipments from China. If you had you would know just how much the Chinese government has their hands in Chinese business. It's not a free country over there. Companies exist only as long as they do what the communist request them to do.

[keilau]

News! 24th April 2025
Due to adjustments in U.S. tariff policies, order shipments to the U.S. will be temporarily suspended starting April 25 Hong Kong time. U.S. customers can still place orders as usual, but shipping will be delayed until the tariff policy is clarified. If there are any changes to shipping costs, we will communicate them to customers and handle them accordingly. For any inquiries, please get in touch with us. Thank you for your understanding and support! Countries outside the U.S. are unaffected.

It may be a long time before "until the tariff policy is clarified".

[tank_me]

Bambu Lab filament refills have gone from $14.99 to $17.99/kg already and those were shipped from the Houston warehouse to Austin, TX.

[Delta_19]

My wife just ordered a bunch of stuff off Aliexpress yesterday and our order shows as shipped. We did pay extra for air freight but no tariffs yet. The tariff is supposed to be collected on our end by customs or USPS prior to delivery and paid by the recipient not the shipper.

Those that are not shipping are taking instructions directly from the communist Chinese leadership just to cause problems and discomfort to the average US buyer. So if your package is not shipped don't blame the US blame the communist for directly holding power over you.

Trust me the majority of the Chinese companies want to ship your orders but know better then to go against the communist party.

Well that's a take.

I feel if the Chinese government had any say here a lot more people would be stopping sales with the usa. But in the world of consumer 3d printers both bambu and creality are business as usually just a little more expensive.

If an ali seller isn't selling to the usa it's because they don't want to deal with the headache that's gonna come with Americans not understanding they have to pay the tariffs.

[keilau]

I don't care if they make mobile phones uber expensive. Maybe if the phones had less features to be cheaper, people would get off of them and drive while looking at the road instead of me always seeing them looking down.

The iPhone manufacturing is just an example of how the current global trade works. I was in the aerospace industry. For years, we know that American workers are the most efficient worker in the world. We want American workers to focus on high margin products such as airplane. We can afford to hire low cost labor to do the labor intensive iPhone assembly elsewhere. I am on the side of American people and want to keep the win-win arrangement of the current global trade.

I was a high school student in Hong Kong in the 50-60's when HK was a British colony. Intel moved their CPU chip fabrication to Hong Kong because local workers were highly trainable, dedicated and don't make any trouble. The personal computer boom is now itched into history. Today's microchip is million times more powerful and still made by Chinese workers in Taiwan. TSMC is the undisputed leader in chip fabrication. Chip technology in mainland China is several generation behind and we want to keep it that way.

My car is too old to have built-in GPS. I use my iPhone as GPS when driving and do look down at the phone occasionally.

[tank_me]

I don't care if they make mobile phones uber expensive. Maybe if the phones had less features to be cheaper, people would get off of them and drive while looking at the road instead of me always seeing them looking down.

[keilau]

I’m happy to buy <$100 refurbished phones and forgo tanks to be able to buy food and gas. The inflation is what was hurting me. This country needs to stop its handouts to those that should be contributing to society and not just a drain on it.

I am a retired engineer who lives on the IRA saving and social security check. With all the talks about pre-1930 history and what may happen in the next 4 years. The tariff on my RC toy purchase is only a fraction of 1% of my saving asset losses in the last 3 months. I am not wealthy enough to benefit from the Republican tax cut. If you are a small business owner, you may be hurt more by the tariffs. A trade war is a loss-loss situation due to the loss of trade and business. If US do not end the tariffs soon, most wall street analyst predict a recession before this summer that hurts everyone.

[Evan D]

I’m happy to buy <$100 refurbished phones and forgo tanks to be able to buy food and gas. The inflation is what was hurting me. This country needs to stop its handouts to those that should be contributing to society and not just a drain on it.

[keilau]

Apple make the iPhone in China so that they can keep the price at the $1K range. Making the iPhone in US will boost the price to the $3K and crash the smart phone market. The same situation applies to many consumer goods. We want to keep our high standard of living by taking advantage of the low labor cost in China and other Asian countries. Our per capital GDP is almost an order of magnitude higher than China. We enjoy luxuary goods that the average Chinese citizen cannot afford. China cannot catch up with US in personal wealth so the trade imbalance will always be there unless we want to lower our standard of living to the Chinese level.

For the same reason, I want Heng Long to keep making the RC tank in China. If they made it in the US, a HL RTR tank will probably cost more than a Tamiya RC tank kit. Our hobby will not exist as we know it today.

We have the better of both world. Biggest US export to China is the agricultural product which American farmer produce at the highest efficiency of the world. We also sell China the high margin product such as aircraft and microchip. We just cannot expect China to buy as much as we buy their low end consumer goods.

You are free to disagree with me on how the world economics should work. We live in a democracy. We have the best check and balance in politics in the world and I do not want to see it changed.

[Evan D]

Respect!

[RichJohnson]

Being that I import products from China that I either purchase and resell or have manufactured and resell, and that I myself manufacture many accessories for all these rc tanks that come from China and since the tariff war started, my sales have dropped drastically, but I still support what our president is doing to try and Even up the playing field for the benefit of my own country. Yes, it hurts my pocketbook, but I support what he’s doing. I don’t necessarily understand how he’s doing it. I know he plays four dimensional chess I kind of don’t care, but I would’ve supported any president. even ones I didn’t like if he started doing this because it needs to be done and while it’s gonna hurt us for a little while it’s gonna benefit us in the long run.

[tank_me]

Mine is still pending shipment. The Coolbank Ali site no longer has it listed so I'm guessing they sold out. Another Ali vendor is now listing the Crusader for $689 and won't ship to the US.

[quitcherbitchen]

Thanks for the update Rich. My Aliexpress order is at the airport and awaiting a plane. For Aliexpress this is the fastest I have every seen it make it to the airport. Either the everyone else stopped ordering for fear of the tariffs ( I admit I am concerned) so my order is being sent because they slowed down or the Chinese are doing their best to beat the deadline. Usually I am sorta peeved at threads where people will post were in the world is their order and give up to date postings to where it is, but with the tariffs this is actually interesting. Will it make it:astonished: and I get to cheat the deficit.

[RichJohnson]

It will ship tomorrow according to my factory rep. Should,take a week. Going to be a toss up if it makes it in time. After design and mold fees the actual production cost of my products are not very expensive and a cost ea. and that is what the shipment is declared as a value, so if it goes up %145 it won’t kill me, just reduce my margin a little. This whole process took two months.

[keilau]

I am importing an order of goods from China for a project. I asked them about tariffs. This was her response.
"Small parcels imported to your country with a value of less than USD800 before May 2nd are still duty-free."

Based on a provision in Section 321 of the Tariff Act of 1930 that allows importers to bring shipments into the U.S. without paying duties or filing formal entry paperwork, as long as the total daily value of the shipments is below $800. It is also known as the "de minimis exemption," allows goods valued at or below $800 to enter the United States free from tariffs, but this exemption has been modified by the Donald Trump administration, especially for goods from China and Hong Kong, with changes taking effect on May 2, 2025.

Hope that your package arrives in time to avoid the 145% tax. What does the shipment tracking say?

[RichJohnson]

I am importing an order of goods from China for a project. I asked them about tariffs. This was her response.
"Small parcels imported to your country with a value of less than USD800 before May 2nd are still duty-free."

[keilau]

Another reality: DHL Halts High-Value US Shipments Over Trump Tariffs

DHL is a huge logistic company headquartered in Germany. Most of my RTR tank purchases were delivered by them. I have enough RC tank upgrade project to work on and wait for the tariffs to be cancelled. Trump administration wins for now.

https://supplychaindigital.com/suppl...-trump-tariffs