[conservatism_IS_compassion]

If you, a manufacturer, can shave 5-8% off production cost you would have three choices to make:

1. Pass all of it to you customers.
2. Pass part of it on to your customers and keep some for profit.
3. Keep all of it as profit.

Well 1. wouldn't make sense. What would be the point of offshoring if your bottom line remains the same? If you are doing just to keep up with your competition and your bottom line profit remains the same then the whole offshoring experiment thing is simply a way of making Americans unemployed. Really sick.

Option 2. might make sense, throw a point or two at your customer. Would they even notice?

Option 3 is the more likely. Would the international stockholders stand for giving away profit to the customers? That would be outrageous to them.

I think no one would offshore for a lousy 5%. Way too much trouble. Companies offshore because they are being, or shortly will be, slaughtered by imports from the places they are tempted to offshore to.

Which means that by offshoring they are actually “running as fast as they can, just to stay in the same place.” And therefore "option 3" is not available; the competition from suppliers already offshore does not permit it.

IMHO.

[Disestablishmentarian]

That’s why the short-term answer must include tariffs.

[central_va]

Corporations are offshoring to save 5%. That is the reality of the situation. That is why it wouldn't take much of a tariff to level the playing field. Maybe 10%.

Look CEO's would put grandma in a meat grinder to shave 5% off of production costs. That would be an exaggeration but not much of one. '