New U.S. tariff on imported motorcycles ?
- Thread starter TK4
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Riceburner
Well-known member
lol...HD got one in the 80s for over 700cc. Why not beef?
sundin4prez
Active member
Reading some of those comments at the bottom is a bit shocking.
Its fun to see the go to response is "build a factory in the US"... I guess people are happy with no Euro options from 49-500cc's.
Its fun to see the go to response is "build a factory in the US"... I guess people are happy with no Euro options from 49-500cc's.
Riceburner
Well-known member
For an international businessman, Trump seems clueless.
KTM 390 and BMW 310 are built in India. This may have less effect than one might think. The big trouble will be if the new administration slaps a tariff on everything imported. US assembly of anything outside of H-D and Indian is not going to happen...and even those have loads of imported parts.
Riceburner
Well-known member
Trumping the auto sector could do as much damage inside the US as out. Small cc bikes will be the least of it.
The seemingly inevitable trade wars that are on our horizon are going to be interesting. Unfortunately we, as a country, are likely going to get some of the mud on our face when we go along for the ride, but I see an epic sh!tstorm brewing in US/China trade relations.
I'm going to stock up on popcorn before a tariff or something stupid jacks the price up by 400%.
D
Dr. Luxurious
Guest
wouldnt be in this mess if these deals were negotiated to benefit regular people and not just corporations
But - mostly - they HAVE benefitted regular people.
If you work for a company that sells products outside Canada, you have benefitted.
If you are able to buy something from outside Canada that is not available from a Canadian source or is less expensive when imported, you have benefitted.
If the company that you work for is able to sell its products more competitively because it is buying parts from elsewhere in the world, you have benefitted.
If the company you work for is able to reduce cost by making higher production volume by being able to supply customers worldwide, you have benefitted.
If you are able to buy a product for lower cost because a company was able to build worldwide production in one place (whether here or elsewhere), you have benefitted.
One of my customers, for example, specialises in making certain engine parts for the automotive industry. They are a Canadian company. They have plants elsewhere in the world. They have, for example, a line running here in Canada that makes parts for a certain engine family that is sold worldwide - by a company that has a European nameplate but assembly plants all over the world.
My van had final assembly in Mexico from bodyshell parts that were stamped in Italy with a transmission assembled in the USA which contains parts that came from Canada (and elsewhere) and an engine assembled in Mexico from parts that came from Mexico, the USA, and Canada. A customer of mine (Canadian) builds the oil pumps for those engines.
If you buy a BMW SUV it's assembled in Spartanburg USA with bodyshell parts from a nearby Magna plant (you might have heard of that company), and it contains a German-designed but American-built ZF transmission that contains parts made in Canada. If you buy a later-model Chrysler with the cousin of that transmission, it's assembled at a different American plant but it contains some of the same internal bits and pieces that were made in Canada.
This is how the auto industry works nowadays.
This issue highlights trade barriers set in place by one jurisdiction and the response of the "offended" party. In this case the offender is not the US, they are simply responding to trade barriers of another country.
Trump has no idea of the impact his simplistic surcharge(s) and/or duty(ies) and how this might negatively affect the US economy. A detailed understanding of this might involve actually reading and comprehension, something apparently beyond his capacity. If the US imposes a 10% BAT or a 35% duty on all vehicle imports then fine, Canada should impose the same on all US exports to Canada. I'm happy to research the origin of all manufactured products I buy and I'll actively search out alternatives to US products.
If all countries do this then then that pathetic a***** Trump and his toady republican enablers get the message, right in the pocketbook, that we're not sitting still for this bull**** and we will take our $$ elsewhere.
As you might have guessed, I'm not a big Trump fan.
Trump has no idea of the impact his simplistic surcharge(s) and/or duty(ies) and how this might negatively affect the US economy. A detailed understanding of this might involve actually reading and comprehension, something apparently beyond his capacity. If the US imposes a 10% BAT or a 35% duty on all vehicle imports then fine, Canada should impose the same on all US exports to Canada. I'm happy to research the origin of all manufactured products I buy and I'll actively search out alternatives to US products.
If all countries do this then then that pathetic a***** Trump and his toady republican enablers get the message, right in the pocketbook, that we're not sitting still for this bull**** and we will take our $$ elsewhere.
As you might have guessed, I'm not a big Trump fan.
Meh! The US still owes Canada for soft wood lumber and probably won't see it in my life time. I'm sure Trump can impose a tariff or three without worry. And if the maple leaf imposes our own, we will just ask politely and nothing will happen. Doubt that would happen with Uncle Sam.
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Problem is...he wants to tariff anything coming from anywhere outside 'Merica, because in his head everything used or consumed by Americans should be made or produced in America. "America First!"
I just don't think he grasps how unrealistic that is in this age of globalization. Sorry, the reality is that either products are going to disappear off store shelves, or (most likely) their prices are simply going to go up by an amount equal to whatever tariffs are imposed.
This thread is a good example, simply read the article in the first post - KTM will still sell motorcycles in the USA, but if a tariff effectively doubles the cost it's the consumer that is going to be the one getting slapped upside the head with that new reality, dealerships simply won't be able to sell them, and the domino effect begins.
Wait and see what happens when Joe Republican "rah rah Trump!" voter goes to WalMart in 12 months and the $19.99 blender/toaster/whatever from China is now $60 instead. Those $99 air conditioners from Mexico will be $400.
Etc, etc etc.
Consumers WILL notice...because consumers are now very price sensitive, and of course many of the people who voted for Trump are on the lower income side to begin with, so ironically they'll be amongst the most negatively affected right out of the gate - and the democrats will be standing on every street corner reminding them about WHY they're pocketbook is now even more empty.
And to suggest that all those companies are going to rush back to producing product in America again in order to avoid this, well, good luck with that - even IF *some* (And it's a pipe dream to expect *every*) company decided to do so, the results are not going to happen overnight, and the prices on the resulting products are still going to be higher than what consumers have become accustomed to simply because producing that blender, toaster, AC, etc costs more here.
Riceburner
Well-known member
if the duty is less than the tariff going back...
Correct, and that's how he managed to become POTUS. Even now, his political opponents STILL underestimate him. While I wouldn't portray Donald as a Machiavellian genius, he does have a firm grasp of how to manipulate the mass media and public opinion. Not surprising considering he has been a media figure for a few decades. Look at his Twitter feed. It's intentionally inflammatory to rally supporters and enrage "enemies". It keeps the focus on the public persona (manufactured) and off the private persona (the real danger). At 70 (ish), he has managed to defraud an unknown number of business partners, contractors and employees, while retaining a small personal fortune. Perhaps not billionaire-sized as claimed, but a fortune nonetheless. The American electorate ignored this at their peril.
Mark Hamill is reading some of Trump's more outrageous Tweets in the voice of the Joker (from the Batman animated series). There are two readings available at the moment and it's probably the best satire of "The Donald" so far. May we live in interesting times. Apologies for the thread jack.
I82l8
Well-known member
Also remember that the US are part of the WTO and as such are limited on how much duty they can impose on anything.
