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

Submitted ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨yarr@feddit.nl⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://www.tomshardware.com/laptops/acer-ceo-10pc-price-rise-tariffs

IT’S OFFICIAL, FOLKS! Trump thinks he can just slap tariffs on our friends abroad and watch us ‘compete’ again? Newsflash: this only hurts the little guy (and the planet). Just got word from Acer CEO that those tariffs have already led to a 10% price hike for laptops in the US. That’s right, we’re paying more for the very devices that are supposed to help us succeed in an era of ‘American greatness’. Meanwhile, Trump is too busy coddling his corporate pals to care about the real American people. Wake up, sheeple! It’s time to stop voting for politicians who only look out for their buddies on Wall Street.

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BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Guess I’m 10% less likely to buy one then. If crashing consumer confidence is the goal you’re well on your way Mr President.

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- ruekk@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  We’re not the consumers Trump cares about
  
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  - Isoprenoid@programming.dev ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    Follow the money. Where do the tariffs end up?
    
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- stormio@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  I think you’re being too generous. I’m probably not alone in saying that a 10% price increase gives me 0% interest in buying a new laptop.
  
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  - BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    Regardless I’m not buying a new laptop. My 15 year old netbook is chugging along and if it suddenly died I’d sooner rehab another used one rather than make this economy look in any way good by buying new.
    
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- jaybone@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  TBF I was always 100% less likely to buy an Acer.
  
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MrAlternateTape@lemm.ee ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
If it would not affect the life of so many people, I would enjoy seeing the country fall apart. Now I just feel sorry for all the poor bastards that have to live there.

I do suspect immigration won’t be an issue in a couple of years, because nobody wants to live there anymore. So that’s something to look out for.

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latenightnoir@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
“Guy in charge of increasing profits and blames whatever to justify it is actually right this time…”

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LMurch@thelemmy.club ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Damn.

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SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Winning!

So much for a free market.

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RandAlThor@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
lol great

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shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
How exactly does this hurt the planet? If the United States imports fewer laptops, then that means there are less laptops coming over on ships from China which saves fuel. If tariffs cause a rise in US production, then the production of the product is closer to the end consumer, again saving fuel.

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- EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  The same amount of laptops will come over, we’ll just be paying more for them.
  
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  - shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    If they cost more, it would also disincentivize spending on the laptop unless it’s necessary. So theoretically fewer laptops should come over. If you don’t buy a laptop because your laptop isn’t really in need of replacement, then you just saved 100%. Or you could also buy a used laptop that’s newer than the one you have from somebody else in good condition and save some percentage of what you would have paid for the new one anyway.
    
    Just as an example, I’m rocking a laptop from 2014 with an Intel 3rd generation Core i7. Obviously the newest Intel is the 13th generation, but you can find Intel 7th and 8th generation laptops which are much newer than mine for decent prices.
    
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- yarr@feddit.nl ⁨3⁩ ⁨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 ⁨3⁩ ⁨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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- Dudewitbow@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  the majority of laptops dont come from companies like acer. the majority of them are leased by dell/lenovo/hp to businesses. all this does is hurt acer. and businesses require the laptops to function so the major total of laptops isnt changing much.
  
  also tariffs doesnt automatically create rise of US production. it can also have the opposite effect. E.g during trumps last term, boutique case maker CaseLabs went out of business due to tariffs on aluminum prices. You know which case companies survived? the ones that kept production in asia.
  
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  - shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    I’m not totally sure how those lease programs to companies work. Once the laptops are replaced, I know some of them will obviously be unusable and have to be destroyed. But there should be laptops that are in perfectly fine condition. And what happens to those if they get put on the second hand market you could buy them from their and the company paid the “new” tax. Now to make up for that, the company could either raise their prices on their items or if they don’t want to lose sales, they could eat it.
    
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  - balder1991@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    
    all this does is hurt acer
    
    I don’t think it will necessarily hurt them if other brands follow suit. It will hurt the consumers, that is.
    
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