37.5% duty charged on Ascilab speakers shipped to US [Resolved]

[Buckeye Amps]

I’m not good with this stuff so perhaps you could clarify for me…



When you reference the tariff fee, do you mean the tariff amount set by the US government?
Or the proportion of the tariffs the company in question decides to add to the price of the goods?

Doesn’t that depend on whether the manufacture in question decides to eat the tariff or not? Or how much they decide to pass on the customer?

That's why I said if you (meaning you the consumer directly) purchase something from overseas. Say on eBay, directly from manufacturer, etc. You'll pay the tariff.

If purchasing through a US based company/business, your price will be what it is. Said company can decide to eat some, all, or none of the tariff they had to pay and pass remainder onto customer.

 

[RickS]

This discussion is very intensive and should be shifted into a separate thread (if allowed) @RickS ?

Maybe, Amir is involved and am happy off listening to my new subwoofer.

My quick peruse seemed pretty civil even if a bit political. Just deleted one personal attack. If it gets personal, please report!

Thanks,

Rick

 

[MarkS]

am happy off listening to my new subwoofer.

Whadya get??

 

[mj30250]

I fear this is wishful thinking. It won't happen, neither in the US nor in the EU.

Knowledge about precise manufacturing has been lost to China, and not only in electronics. There is a guy in Germany who designs (and sells) tripod heads for very heavy camera lenses. Some 10 years ago he complained that it gets more and more difficult to find a workshop which can produce the parts to his specs.

There's also the massive challenge of actually finding workers to staff production lines, machine and finish parts, perform maintenance on equipment, manage QC, provide safety compliance, etc, etc, etc. The US has a colossal manufacturing skills gap to the tune of nearly 2 million unfilled jobs today. Sprinkle in ICE ramping up to deport untold numbers of potential labor, and the prospects of reshoring aren't looking too bright.

 

[levimax]

Again, your economic studies were not very successful.

Paul Samuelson, who you may have heard of, used to say that the stock market predicted nine of the last five recessions.

Maybe you should subscribe to PaulKrugman’s Substack, he goes in depth with references and self deprecation into current economics and history.

In Argentina, we had to study Raul Prebisch and his import substitution policies. They resulted in poor quality products at high prices. I’ve seen that picture, it ends poorly.

Here is a decent article written by an economist that hates tariffs, and as I said I don't like them either, but his conclusion and the conclusion of almost all mainstream economists is that tariffs are not inflationary. They cause a one time increase in price level but not the rate of change of prices which is the definition of inflation. It is a long article but the except about inflation is below. Maybe we are arguing semantics.
https://www.cato.org/commentary/great-tariff-inflation-confusion

Put another way, global tariffs will increase the price level but not its rate of change (aka “inflation”)—at least not in the longer term. Thus, most economists expect the CPI or PCE to tick up this year because of Trump’s tariffs, but only temporarily. (In general, the widely held view among various professional economists is that we’ll see a gradual, 1‑ish percentage point increase in the CPI and PCE figures, peaking later this year and early next but mostly subsiding after 2026.) Those higher prices still mean pain for American consumers, of course, but the increase wouldn’t technically be “inflation” as economists understand and define it. And any CPI uplift we do see in the coming year or so will pale in comparison with the recent post-pandemic inflation we’ve lived through, because imported goods are still relatively small shares of Americans’ total spending.

 

[RickS]

Whadya get??

Am designing based on Dayton RSS315HF. Am going to compare to my sealed one. If interested, see my thread in DIY section.

 

[Doodski]

Am designing based on Dayton RSS315HF. Am going to compare to my sealed one. If interested, see my thread in DIY section.

Off topic but you sure are a avid designer builder. It's impressive the projects that pass through your hands over time.

 

[MarkS]

Well darn, if we're gonna drift and if even the OP is going to drift

I gotta go with the flow!

 

[Groove01]

Well, I can say this. When I was studying electrical engineering in college, all the kids who couldn't cut mustard, dropped out and went into economics. So yeah, I guess economics is easy, peasy and breezy.

Anyway, my final post with you here. Typically I would end it saying, "it was entertaining." But this dialogue not only wasn't even entertaining, it reaffirmed George Carlin's quote.

I understand theory and ambiguity can be hard. Solving the solved sounds much more complicated -

 

[mk05]

I did not read any of these 13 pages. Are these speakers made in Korea or China

 

[Timcognito]

The tariffs are about unburdening the rich and large high margin companies from taxes as the national debt with 15% (of GDP) annual service and going up due to the BBB, can only be solved with revenue from somewhere. One would guess that the country with the highest GDP would be able to solve that problem easily as other economies do it without such debt, sell good products and have social services and infrastructure. The tariffs ultimately get passed on to consumers. So the 5% of taxpayers that pay 61% of income taxes probably only consume 7% of products can have the other 95% of consumers paying the tariff revenue to run the government and reduce the deficit without paying more taxes, in fact less due to the BBB. With payroll tax and federal income tax businesses pay 46% of federal taxes not sure how tariffs impact them as it is a two edged sword.

 

[MarkS]

Unclear.

I did not read any of these 13 pages. Are these speakers made in Korea or China

Unclear. The company is based in South Korea.

 

[a4eaudio]

...Maybe we are arguing semantics.

Yes. What the average (and even non-average) American thinks of as inflation is any increase in the price level. After COVID every one talked about inflation even though they were referring to temporary supply shocks. I see many PhD economists, whose fields are not monetary economics, that do not understand inflation.

EDIT: the quote from the CATO article it's quite correct except at the end when they refer to the "post-pandemic" inflation which also was just a one time increase in the price level like tariffs.

 

[PristineSound]

Yes. What the average (and even non-average) American thinks of as inflation is any increase in the price level. After COVID every one talked about inflation even though they were referring to temporary supply shocks. I see many PhD economists, whose fields are not monetary economics, that do not understand inflation.

Except, it's not temporary. These price hikes are for the most part are permanent. Just like any price hike that is a result of the tariffs will be permanent.

 

[Selkirks]

I did not read any of these 13 pages. Are these speakers made in Korea or China

The manufacturer offered to provide the OP with a certificate of origin from South Korea.

I intentionally bought the C6B's assuming they are assembled in SK, instead of Ascend Acoustics (because of the orange monster tarrif bs)

 

[a4eaudio]

Except, it's not temporary. These price hikes are for the most part are permanent. Just like any price hike that is a result of the tariffs will be permanent.

A one-time, and permanent, increase of x% is not the inflation that monetary economists worry about. A x% increase in prices EVERY YEAR is the inflation that that article is referring too. (And that is the correct terminology.) Tariffs are not inflationary in that sense. But neither is COVID relief, the price of gas or the price of eggs.

 

[Audio Science Pal]

I did not read any of these 13 pages. Are these speakers made in Korea or China

It appears that FedEx has incorrectly classified this shipment as “Made in China” instead of “Made in Korea,” resulting in an excessive duty charge.
Please send the current case details to [email protected], and we will issue a Certificate of Origin.
You can submit this certificate to FedEx to claim a refund for the additional duties that were charged in error.

 

[PristineSound]

A one-time, and permanent, increase of x% is not the inflation that monetary economists worry about. A x% increase in prices EVERY YEAR is the inflation that that article is referring too. (And that is the correct terminology.) Tariffs are not inflationary in that sense. But neither is COVID relief, the price of gas or the price of eggs.

Ok, but during COVID are you saying there was no inflation? Because the fed raised rates to combat inflation, no?

And if it's not considered inflation because it doesn't fall into the definition, are you saying these price hikes are ok to have? Because it's not ok for me and my wallet.

 

[amirm]

I don’t agree with much of the current approach, etc. But I do like we are finally at least thinking about it..

Thinking is all I ask, before taking nuclear option.

Take Chinese government vs us. 10 years ago they said Solar, Green energy and storage was going be key. Fast forward to now and they dominate the world in all of that. The industry was given a clear goal, likely heavily incentivized by the government, and they accomplished it in spades. They went fully integrated from dirt (minerals) to fully finished cars. On that front, they did the impossible: getting phone companies to build cars!

I like us to think and figure out what we should dominate this way. Seems to me, semiconductors are it. Our appetite for it is only growing. And growing exponentially. It is far easier to dominate in that and take the lead from Taiwan's TSMC than it is to have garment factories here again. The chip act was noise by the way and nothing like what China did above.

Alas, we have a government led by people who don't know silicon from silicone. So they continue the playbook of 1970s of "bring back jobs." We chase out people picking strawberries in heat of summer and humidity in Florida, thinking some American would want that job. Even if they did, the cost of strawberries would then be $20 per pound.

The government has always been dumb with politicians more interested in power than doing good. But they didn't take drastic action so damage that they could cause was very limited. And at any rate, every 4 years we had a chance at a new government. That all changed in January of this year. In just a few months, incredible amount of change is made with constant variability. By the time 4 years is up, we will not recognize where we will be if this trend continues.

Some good may come out of it by accident. But we best not rule by accident.

 

[amirm]

Unclear.

Unclear. The company is based in South Korea.

they are definitely made in Korea. Company states that having a single location for design and manufacturing is one of their advantages in keeping costs down. I suspect the designers are part-time putting these things together.