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I’m no economist and my financial acumen is, as my partner would tell you, suspect.
Amazon, for instance,reportedly makes most of its Fire and Kindle productsin China.
Similarly,Google manufactures Pixelsand other devices in China, Vietnam, Taiwan, and India.
Lenovo producesmost of its laptopsin China.
I know labor is cheaper and the proximity to components is better outside the US.
It would be fantastic if we could have both, but that might be unrealistic.
The goal of tariffs is to fix trade distortions.
The US does have a trade deficit.
On election day in the US, the Census Bureau released itsU.S.
International Trade in Goods and Services report for September 2024 (PDF).
The key headline was that the trade deficit rose $13.6b to a total of $84.4b.
Do we have a plan?
I’ve askedGoogle, Amazon,Lenovo, andApplehow they plan to handle these potential tariffs.
Would they just eat the extra cost or pass it along to consumers?
Amazon had no comment.
As of this writing, the others have yet to respond.
If these tariffs happen early next year, though, the costs will have to go somewhere.
On the bright side, we have aBlack Fridaystraight ahead of us.
It might make sense to stock up on those gadgets now.
