Tariffs? Buy stuff now?

[GetLeft]

and don't ever expect anything to come back down. end days, freinds.

 

[chillAtGVC]

That is what competition is about. If the tariffs go, someone will lower their prices to gain market share from other companies.

 

[Radwin Bodnic]

That is what competition is about. If the tariffs go, someone will lower their prices to gain market share from other companies.

Lowering prices always comes at the expense of workers wages and/or quality and safety of the product. Rarely at the expense of dividendes, and not all products are made by companies owned by shareholders.
I'm not sure Americans wants the same working conditions and salary than Chinese workers.
Competition is one thing, but cooperation is generally more effective and leads to greater achievements.

 

[chillAtGVC]

Lowering prices always comes at the expense of workers wages and/or quality and safety of the product.

Or the removal of tariffs.

 

[florduh]

So let's say we cave and China caves. Prices permanently go up across the board at least 10%, for no good reason. No resurgence in domestic manufacturing. And it only cost us our relationships with literally every nation on the planet.

 

[Big Swifty]

That is what competition is about. If the tariffs go, someone will lower their prices to gain market share from other companies.

Isn't this what a lot of people were upset about during the last US election - that prices didn't drop back to pre-pandemic levels after the pandemic (and related supply issues) was over? One of the big factors in Trump's election win.

If one company lowers prices today because no more tariffs, everyone else in the market can react by lowering theirs tomorrow to protect market share. Market shares stay the same, all players reduce potential revenues.

I could see a situation where there's a form of passive collusion which leaves prices at their new inflated levels. Market shares stay the same, all players increase revenues and profits.

Or perhaps all players lower their prices to please consumers, but keep prices above pre-tariff levels in order to increase revenues and profits. In this scenario some companies could lower their prices more than others hoping to gain market share, which brings me back to your post in a nice, circular way.

Tariffs and trade wars are complicated. Lotta ins, lotta outs, lotta what have yous.

 

[florduh]

I could see a situation where there's a form of passive collusion which leaves prices at their new inflated levels. Market shares stay the same, all players increase revenues and profits.

Yep. This is how a lot of post-COVID inflation worked. If the media keeps yelling about "inflation", who is going to double check if a company's input costs actually went up, or if they are simply "taking price"? Well, the same thing will happen with the media talking about tariffs.

Also, this idea that somehow competition is going to kick in and the corpos will need to eat the cost of tariffs is very optimistic. Some might say delusional. There's been so much corporate consolidation over the last few decades...that sort of wonderful free market competition is gone with the wind:

 

[chillAtGVC]

I think you are conflating two different things. One is price increases driven by input cost increases (higher tariffs to import inputs to your business. The other is price increases caused by inflation caused by increases in the money supply without corresponding increases in value produced (aka printing money out of thin air). In the first, the price can be reduced if the input cost reduces. Look at the price of a colour tV over the past 40 years. The second will never go down unless the money supply is tightened or if a deflationary market happens.

 

[florduh]

(aka printing money out of thin air)

Prices were jacked up post COVID across the planet because COVID collapsed the global supply chain (or because companies were simply taking advantage of the situation). "The Money Supply" barely made a blip compared to those two factors.

Also...given that the vast majority of the money we printed ended up in the hands of the very wealthy, the best way to shrink the "money supply" would be to soak the rich with new taxes. Yet nobody who cries about "printing money" ever proposes that. Curious

 

[Flotsam]

For some reason i keep l keep lists of things on both ebay and Amazon in a cart. Most will probably not be purchased, but they give you a nice total summary on how much that shopping cart would be to check out. By my calculation prices have risen a bit over 21 % in last few months. and now likely to be even higher coming up. Already seeing layoffs in trucking ( transportation in general).

a cnn business article :
USPS briefly stopped delivering parcels from China. Delivery times for parcels that did get shipped stretched longer, with limited information on package tracking in the US.

At the heart of the issue: the sheer volume of packages. More than 80% of total US e-commerce shipments in 2022 were de minimis imports, the vast majority of which come from China, according to a congressional research report.

 

[Rodney]

My body building powder went from £30 to £40 on Amazon and that is now the RRP of it.

Also exactly what @Flotsam just said all my shopping lists and things left in cart have went way up in price. For example a weight bar that cost £35 is now £49 and a warm mist dehumidifier was £30 now £43, short wave radio balun was £9.99 now £11, BNC small connectors ALWAYS costed £4.99 for as long as I remember and now cost £6.95.

The only 1 thing that has not went up in price from what I can see is the Ashwagandha that i bought a year ago at £6.99 and is still same price.

ALSO a lot of the smaller stores on Amazon that shipped from china and sold china makes of Arial wires and connectors that i use for my radios have disappeared from Amazon.

All my lcoal shopping adn take away shops have not went up in price yet so there is that.

 

[Flotsam]

Holy SHT my one cart on eBay just jumped up $150! Entirely shipping.

Orange SHTstain strikes again! Kind of makes those cracks about egg prices during Biden's term quite quaint.