Long Term Impact of Trade War on Woodworking Tool Prices

[Handplanesandmore]

Yeah cause no chance in hell a guy like trump could get elected.

Long-term investment decisions are not made by betting on who will get elected and who won't. Let's revisit this thread in 2025 (mark the diary, guys and gals), and find out how many new woodworking machines, previously imported from Asia, have become America-made.

Simon

[Teak]

I bought my Powermatic PM2000 with the 50" rails brand new for $2200 delivered in 2008.  Cheapest I could find a new one for sale today was $3700 not including delivery.  Yes, prices have gone up significantly, but they were going up quite a bit prior to the trade war.  Hard to tell what will happen now.  I don't think the trade war will have a long term effect.

Now that provides an interesting frame of reference. I went into the US Inflation Calculator https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ and used it to calculate the inflation adjusted value of $2200 today. According to the calculator it should be $2611.23. However, the cheapest you could find the same saw, not including delivery, is $3700. The increase is way more than I had expected.

[Handplanesandmore]

Now that provides an interesting frame of reference. I went into the US Inflation Calculator https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ and used it to calculate the inflation adjusted value of $2200 today. According to the calculator it should be $2611.23. However, the cheapest you could find the same saw, not including delivery, is $3700. The increase is way more than I had expected.

Sawstop (which has much higher prices) partially to blame?

Higer end tools like Festool also report annual price increases. I sold one of my Festool cordless drills after three years of use, and it was cheaper to own and resell than to rent.

Simon

[Teak]

is the lower quality a result of moving manufacturing overseas or a result of the companies allowing lower quality?

Both.

[Teak]

Sawstop (which has much higher prices) partially to blame?

Higer end tools like Festool also report annual price increases. I sold one of my Festool cordless drills after three years of use, and it was cheaper to own and resell than to rent.

Simon

As controversial as Sawstop is in the woodworking community, they did bring real innovation to the market and forced it to change. Up until Sawstop came along, there was no real innovation in the tablesaw market for decades. Hell, the manufacturers were not even willing to put a riving knife that was common on Euro saw's for decades. So in that respect they did deserve a premium. However, the regular price increase instituted by TTS (owners of Festool, Sawstop) etc is plain cash grab to see what the market will bear. I have used some Festool power tools but other than some of their sanders, did not find the others to be superior to their competitors (like Bosch and even Dewalt in some cases). 

The contrasting example is Fein where once the patent ran out on Multimaster, we now have a whole bunch of competitors at various price points.

[Woodenfish]

I just thought of something. If more middle aged parents began taking up woodworking and build a basement workshop, the economy could rocket with millennials finally losing their home.

[Handplanesandmore]

New tariffs imposed on Mexico which could go as high as 25% in Oct. if the border problem stays unchanged. Most of the increased business costs are going to be passed on to consumers one way or another.

Simon

[RKMBrown©]

New tariffs imposed on Mexico which could go as high as 25% in Oct. if the border problem stays unchanged. Most of the increased business costs are going to be passed on to consumers one way or another.

Simon

But we need taxes, to pay for our military and all that other good stuff the feds do right?

[Handplanesandmore]

But we need taxes, to pay for our military and all that other good stuff the feds do right?

Not sure what you mean by that as tariffs and general taxes are not exactly the same thing. The former is for strategic reasons and, if misused, will bring increased costs to businesses and consumers without the stated goals of imposing the tariffs achieved. Are you suggesting that we're imposing tariffs to keep our military operations afloat?

Simon

[RKMBrown©]

Not sure what you mean by that as tariffs and taxes are not the same thing. If they were, they would not be two different terms.

Simon

Oh? Where does the money from tariffs go then?

Hint:
A tariff is a tax.

A car is a vehicle.

A woman is a person.

I'll be here all day to elaborate if need be.