I use Harbor Freight.
Most of their stuff comes from China. It is not premium quality. If you need something for just occasional work go to Harbor Freight and buy it at half or less the price. If you need tools to make a living with buy high quality tools that will last. Oddly their wrenches and sockets and drives are not bad. If it is an electric tool it will not last as long as a quality and expensive tool. Items such as sandpaper, electrical fittings, chains, hoses etc. are no different than what you pay for name brand stuff and much cheaper.
America has to get its head around the idea that not focusing on the lowest dollar all the time is necessary in order to bring back manufacturing back to America.
The good news is that automation will reduce the difference between the price of a China made item and an American one.
In my case, the $20 unit did much better than the name brand (when installing tile). Don’t know what the heck was wrong with the name brand, but it sucked. So he bought the right item.
should of used a hand flush cut saw or a toe kick saw.
Even a lot of stuff *Made in America* is often mostly assembled here of Chinese made parts and components.
We still import way too many metal removal machine tools. There are still a lot of things that can’t be made to specifications by any 3D printing process. The list below shows U.S. machine tool manufacturers in 1942, some of which may still be in business.
1 Cincinnati Milling Machine Co.
2 Brown & Sharpe Co.
3 Bullard Co.
4 Warner & Swasey Co.
5 National Acme Co.
6 Kearney & Trecker Corp.
7 Van Norman Machine Tool Co.
8 Gisholt Machine Co.
9 Monarch Machine Tool Co.
10 Heald Machine Co.
11 Norton Co.
12 Gleason Works.
13 New Britain Machine Co.
14 Pratt & Whitney Co.
15 Jones & Lamson Machine Co.
16 Cone Automatic Machine Co.
17 Fellows Gear Shaper Co.
18 Hendey Machine Co.
19 Ex-Cell-O Corp.
20 General Machinery Corp, Div. Niles Tool Works.
20 American Tool Works Co.
22 Landis Tool Co.
23 Bryant Chucking Grinder Co.
24 Lodge & Shipley Machine Tool Co.
25 Landis Machine Co.