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Comment on Trump tariffs result in 10% laptop price hike in U.S. says Acer CEO

yarr@feddit.nl ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

If tariffs cause a rise in US production

This is one of the problems with the Trumpian approach to tariffs. I don’t know if you hadn’t noticed, but there’s remarkably little manufacturing in the USA for quite some time now, but let’s play this out.

The cost to set up a laptop manufacturing firm in the US is anywhere from $50,000,000 to $200,000,000. Then, you’ve gotta acquire all the raw materials and components to assemble the laptops, let’s call that another $500,000,000. Then, of course, you’ve gotta staff the place, and this is in a country where we do not have a lot of people that are experienced in manufacturing. Let’s call that another $100,000,000. By the time you add in R&D, logistics costs, legal and compliance (because the US is a bit more stringent than China in this area), you’re talking about $1 - $3 BILLION in costs.

Now, out of the few people / companies that have enough money to actually set up a laptop manufacturer in the USA, think about how confident they’d have to be to pull this off. The largest problem is, if you spend your billion dollars and build this factory and then the next week Trump removes the tariff, you’re instantly competing with foreign firms again, and you’re going to be going under pretty fast.

I’d say this tariff would have to be in place at LEAST 10 years before anyone gets confident enough to spend the massive amount of money and effort quoted above. When you think about how many millions of laptops are going to get sold between now and then, it’s pretty clear the American consumer is going to take a huge bath in the meantime.

Like so many things Trump is doing, this tariff is supposed to piss off China but just ends up fucking the consumer. Trump and his billionaire friends don’t care if a laptop is an extra $200. That’s change they can find under the couch. For your average American trying to make ends meet, that $200 sure as fuck would be useful.

So go ahead, vote Republican to “own the libs”. Just don’t be surprised when the sudden pain you feel in your wallet is very real.

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shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
That 10-year time horizon is a very good point. And it’s not likely that the tariff would stick around that long since every four years has a changing administration who can do whatever they please in those regards.

Personally, for me anyway, I am a Monero holder and am seeing prices fall fairly rapidly. For example, a thing of beard oil in October of 2024 was 72.9mXMR and is now 61.11mXMR (-16.2%).

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- thanksforallthefish@literature.cafe ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  
  That 10-year time horizon is a very good point. And it’s not likely that the tariff would stick around that long since every four years has a changing administration who can do whatever they please in those regards.
  
  Lol, you guys are hilarious. I keep seeing these comments.
  
  Fascists don’t allow fair elections.
  
  The only way the magats are leaving office is mass insurrection / mass protests & strikes or revolution.
  
  It most certainly won’t happen at the ballot box
  
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  - yarr@feddit.nl ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    I hope there is a prediction market on this at some point because I do not think it’s likely that they will be able to block elections. I’d love to put my money where my mouth is.
    
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    thanksforallthefish@literature.cafe ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    Oh they won’t stop / block the elections initially they’ll hold that first one & just conveniently get 75+% of the vote like every dictator before him.
    
    I’m happy to put money on it if you can find a market. I’ve been unfortunately right too much, not because I’m smart but because you can literally pull out a history of Nazi rise and map it onto MAGA and the last 10 years. The only hard bit is guessing the timings, not what, just when.
    
    I’d really like you guys to break out of this and prove me wrong
    
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- yarr@feddit.nl ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  The thing is, tariffs aren’t new. Manufacturing (or the lack thereof) in the US isn’t new… the only NEW thing appears to be voters that can be led around by the nose and lacking any kind of critical thought altogether. What % of people that voted for tariffs thought that China’d be paying for them? Probably the same folks who thought Mexico was going to build the wall and pay for it. Last time I checked, I don’t think we’ve received any money from Mexico for this.
  
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