The Wall Street Journal is reporting that U.S. automakers are seeking a workaround to avoid increased expenses resulting from President Donald Trump’s controversial tariff policy: relocating manufacturing to China.
“Four major automakers are racing to find workarounds to China’s stranglehold on rare-earth magnets, which they fear could force them to shut down some car production within weeks,” the Journal reports. “Several traditional and electric-vehicle makers—and their suppliers—are considering shifting some auto-parts manufacturing to China to avoid looming factory shutdowns, people familiar with the situation said.”
I work for a company that manufactures medical equipment. We have manufacturing sites all over the world, but the vast majority is manufactured in the US. Last week it was announced that 20% of the manufacturing at my site is going to be moved to China due to the tariffs.
Lots of people in my deep red state will be losing their jobs because of this.
Ya because the tarriffs mean that a device already sold LOSES money to fulfil. Medical devices already don’t have great margins…
Oh, I get it and I don’t blame my employer. They are also moving some manufacturing from China to the US, however it won’t be at my location… funny enough, it just so happens to be in a blue state.
If we weren’t talking about real people’s lives it would be funny to see just how miserably the trump tariffs have failed.
I’m with you, it’s so fucked. And every time we lose manufacturing, we lose everything else. Engineering, sourcing, quality, follows manufacturing.