Laser prices from China to the US due to rise

If a bill currently before congress is passed.
It is calling for a 27.5% tariff to be added to all goods imported from or made in China. This of course would mean an increase of 27.5% on lasers a well. I'm not saying that the Chinese government's trade practices are fair, but two wrongs don't make a right. A 27.5% tariff on all chinese made goods, would hurt the american middle and lower class more than it would hurt China. I would guess that probably 60-70% of what is sold in your local Walmart is made or comes through China.

Here is the link to the story on CNN's website.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/02/20/china.trade.ap/index.html

Moderator, I know that this post might be considered a little off topic, but please let it remain here for a bit so that the laser forum members can read about. I think it is something they would be interested in learning more about and it could affect the cost of goods in our hobby.

Plus it might create some good conversation as I wouldn't mind hearing others point of view on this topic as well.

Thanks
Bootleg2go

We will leave it here, but should the discussion drift away from lasers we might wanna move it to the Café ...
bernie

Thanks, Bernie.
What is your take on this, being as you're from Germany and looking at this from a different angle?

If you don't want to say publicly, just PM me. I want know what people in other countries think of this as well. I like to look at things from others point of view.

Bootleg

I think the global economy is a cage full of predator's ... and right now it seems that there is a rising power, and the older powers (meaning the Old World, Europe, and the former New World, you) are very afraid, and rightly so.
Now ... morally speaking I don't know if we have the right to be upset about this when looking at our past and present.
However, for purely selfish reasons, I really do not like what China is doing right now. Not only is it a threat to my personal wealth on the long run, but I find it dishonest and ignoring intl. rights. But that is just IMHO, and I admit that I am clueless when it comes to politics and economics. :shrug:

As for lasers ... when I look at the prices you all pay for those ... what's a little more anyway? :nana:
I guess money won't be the prime problem in the future ...

bernie

I'll have to agree with kiessling on the subject of a rising power.

But, back to the topic at hand. If the US passes this bill, it won't only be the US residents that see the increase in prices. Some people import goods from china directly from the US, and so they will also see the effects. Especially individuals like me, who buy lasers from some distributor located there (basically due to the lack of distributors in my country). If all this comes to fruition, I will end up with a hobby a bit more expensive .

Well, I guess it's time to think about geting a 100mw red module :naughty:.

Have a look at eBay item 5869031744. It is not a Leadlight. I personally will not buy anything from China. My stuff comes from Taiwan.

The Chinese send us a bunch of inherently worthless junk and we send them a bunch of inherently worthless paper (US Dollars). Sounds like a deal to me.

Eww, all of a sudden so many threads about China and many bashing the Chinese. A friend of mine imports refrigeration goods from there, and flies off to China every year for their trade shows. From what he said to me it is impossible to not have anything in whole or in part thats made in China in a home, unless of cause someone lives in a reclusive wilderness and dont have any electrical goods and only wear deer skin. We have so much goods from China because they are cheap. Importers in our country want a bigger markup and still remain competitive. That is the *only* reason why we have so much Chinese goods in our country. From the consumers point of view I want to have as much things as my rich neighbour does and I want my salary to stretch as far as possible.

A levy imposed on Chinese imports now is asking for trouble. China has a 10% annual growth. In less than 20 years the Chinese will be as rich as the West and 1/3 of the world's population will be wanting Western luxury goods. Any Western manufacturer who don't see a potential in that can only be described as blind!

No one should think there is any possibility that this tariff will ever become US law. I see no reason why I'm much different than the average American and half of everything filling my house is "Made in China". If that's not scary enough, try to guess the Chinese content of everything else that is NOT Made in China. The immediate effect would be a severe inflation noticeable by everyone. While some US manufacturers benefit many do not as their products contain Chinese components. Any politician associated with the tariff will be immediately blamed for the resultant inflation and later blamed for any job losses our exporters experience. Unfortunately, Americans who benefit from the tariff do not create headline news stories.

In summary, threatening China with a tariff is good politics. Actually imposing it would be suicide. We can bluster aggressively, but the reality is that the United States is totally impotent here.