The extent to which China uses tariffs against us is not known to most people.
In our business, you cannot ship used equipment to China for use in a branch office or plant that you own. So, if I buy a machine, and I take it out of the crate, then decide its better if I send that ‘used’ but never installed machine to my Shanghai plant, I can’t.
If we build a piece of custom tooling for this machine, we CAN send it to China, BUT:
1. We can wait 45 days for it to clear customs (imposed on tooling)
2. Pay 40% of the total cost of the tooling to release it immediately.
In the US we have no such trade regulations. At all.
Your discussion of China’s regulations and tariffs, among others (Euros, Canada) is key. That is not to say we don’t have tariff and regulations on incoming goods — in many cases we do. But the “difference” is sometimes staggering.
Trump should cite a specific example every damn day.