The Secrets of Cheap Chinese Goods

[fungi]

You’ve hit the nail on the head. While I reject unfettered nationalism and isolationism, this is exactly what large businesses do to small businesses. It’s just happening on a global scale.

[i.f.llamas]

In Spain we say "the cheap turns expensive" meaning when you buy cheap products, you ended buying another, and you expend more money and time than what you were trying to safe with the cheap one.

[syoung]

And US taxpayers subsidize the shipping and delivery costs. It's cheaper to mail something from China than it is to send something across the US.

[j.c.]

Last time I checked, German cars are heavily cross-subsidized by the german market to get into market in the US. So the prices in Germany are higher than in USA for the same models. Germans are rightfully pissed about it as well.

[BackYardScience]

I completely cut my business off from China. Now, I can't say that some of my suppliers may get stuff from China, but that's beyond what I have control over. That said, we do as much business with Europe as we can.

[matthewsheeran]

Also there is an international postal union which classifies China as third world who's postage is to be subsidized and which we all pay for!

[cuddlewiffoli]

Education is key. Thank you for sharing.

[jackxiao]

Planet Money did an episode on that. Temu uses a USA gift loophole to skip tariffs. And long ship times for items means every item is made on purchase only, resulting in now warehouse costs. They bundle items in large containers, each item as a tax free gift.

So no storage cost. No unsold items. No tariffs. Marginal shipping costs. The only major cost is USA delivery.

It’s actually a super efficient way of producing and selling as long as clients are willing to wait 2 weeks from order received, to item created to item shipped.

[nathant]

That's why stop buying Chinese goods and stop going to Walmart.

[litebrite]

The great thing is more and more people refuse to buy products made in china. I agree with this completely

[nati]

Temu is indeed messing up Amazon and Walmart...I guess they will know how it feels. What goes around comes around.

[talyvlad]

In Germany we say : If you buy cheap you buy twice... Simply means cheap goods has no quality and in the end you buy the same good for a higher price to get the quality you expect or need

[kujii]

1. Export duties on Chinese goods are rare. 2. The US and EU do not impose export duties on exported goods.
3. The CN VAT rebate scheme does not offset export duties, instead it refunds VAT on raw materials used in manufacturing.
4. The US and EU have similar policies to protect domestic manufacturers in the international market.

[dontjudgemebymyname.]

I don't know what is stopping US from doing something similar to what India did. India taxed the hell out of chinese tech goods in India because of which Chinese companies were left with no choice but to set up their companies in India(Can you imagine chinese companies starting their factories by their own will in other countries?), now India enjoys taxes from their companies as well as a sense of security where they can keep an eye on the chinese companies in their country.
One can argue that Chinese companies still hold the monopoly on Indian tech market, but Indian government knew it from the start that India can't compete with China in the field of tech in the current scenario so they decided why not take the best advantage they can take of this situation.

[corpojp]

living in Beijing for 5 years, it was not that cheap. The cost of living there is much higher and as an expat it was high but for locals the prices were rising and these people were not paid well. No wonder consumer confidence there is so bad. No one is buying or shopping and lots of window shopping which is deceptive. However, you have to realise that china is all about optics.

[sohammahendrakar]

This was happening in India but we stopped Chinese imports before it debilitated our economy. Now we import from other countries else we make it by ourselves.

[Celestial_Reach]

To be fair, its a brilliant strategy. And its working

[KillerSquirrels]

Always a good to buy local: support your town's ma and pop shops!

[cleopatranicolalau]

I’m from Hong Kong, Chinese by descent, and I make sure I never get MIC (made in china) if there’s another choice, no matter the price

[tesos]

The chinese dont pay the tariffs on the goods they sell, the US makes the importer pay the tariff, then they will increase the price to the consumer.
The increased price will make the locally produced more competitive, and thats how tariffs work.