Buyer Beware... If you're non-American, think twice before purchasing from the US

[Tigerlilyrosepetal]

I’m much more interested in how the current economic policies will affect the jewelry/diamond industry directly as opposed to the soybean or iPhone. I think the business of selling diamonds and jewelry, in general, is not easy. Recently, there has been a lot of hits to the industry, including the introduction of lab diamonds for sale, the Ukraine war, and Covid disruptions. I can see how diamond sellers would balk majorly at yet another hurdle in the tariffs.
Curious, if someone can expound on the future trajectory of the business and sale projections? And/or costs increase?

 

[Texas Leaguer]

I’m much more interested in how the current economic policies will affect the jewelry/diamond industry directly as opposed to the soybean or iPhone. I think the business of selling diamonds and jewelry, in general, is not easy. Recently, there has been a lot of hits to the industry, including the introduction of lab diamonds for sale, the Ukraine war, and Covid disruptions. I can see how diamond sellers would balk majorly at yet another hurdle in the tariffs.
Curious, if someone can expound on the future trajectory of the business and sale projections? And/or costs increase?

Truer words were never spoken. The diamond jewelry industry has been absolutely beset with challenges starting with the pandemic. It's just been one blow after another. This tariff war, because it is a manufactured crisis, and because we really have no idea where it will ultimately lead, is especially difficult difficult for the jewelry industry. Other industries suffering their first major setback with this tariff war may be able to weather the storm better than industries that have been repeatedly hammered over the last several years. There is only so much a business can bare.

This past week we received our first official price increase from a vendor whose factory is in India. The US has placed a 27% tariff on that country. Working together between the vendor who is absorbing as much as they can, and Whiteflash absorbing as much as we can, the price increase passed on to the consumer is now set at 9%. So starting now, customers for some of our products will be begin feeling the effects of the tariffs.

Because we stock our own diamonds as well as having a lot of designer jewelery in stock that was purchased pre-tariff, we are in a position to hold the line on prices for the most part, at least temporarily until that inventory is sold through. The hope is that the idiocy of this trade war will sink in and there will be some adults somewhere who can prevent the unforced crashing of the whole economy.

 

[Starstruck8]

This past week we received our first official price increase from a vendor whose factory is in India. The US has placed a 27% tariff on that country.

I'm confused. I had thought that India, like most other countries, was included in the 'pause', so the current so-called 'reciprocal' tariff would be only 10%. I've looked for something specific. This Reuters article, dated Apr 10, seems to confirm that the pause applies to India. Quote from the article:

On Wednesday, **Edited no politics** temporarily lowered duties on trading partners including India, just 24 hours after imposing tariffs that unleashed the most intense market volatility since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Shifting the focus back to a bilateral trade war with China, **Edited no politics** said he would raise to 125% the tariff on imports from China. The U.S. reciprocal tariff on India stands at 10%.

Maybe there were existing tariffs, so that the total is now 27%? But since the initial 'reciprocal' tariff for India was 26%, it seems likely that that is what the 27% refers to.

 

[Rockdiamond]

Sadly- many business people are more than happy to use any excuse to raise a price.
Let’s see how fast they lower prices

 

[Lookinagain]

Will he might but again this is part of the ridiculousness and chaos. For example, I wonder if they truly did not think about the iPhone situation and then when they realized it, they say “oh OK we will exempt electronics” or “ oops didn’t think about the soybean thing”. They’re really flying by the seat of their pants and it just makes us looks stupid and incompetent.

I heard today that they said the exemption on those electronics was "temporary" while they do a "national security review"? And they say this was all planned.......

 

[Lookinagain]

I'm confused. I had thought that India, like most other countries, was included in the 'pause', so the current so-called 'reciprocal' tariff would be only 10%. I've looked for something specific. This Reuters article, dated Apr 10, seems to confirm that the pause applies to India. Quote from the article:

On Wednesday, **Edited no politics** temporarily lowered duties on trading partners including India, just 24 hours after imposing tariffs that unleashed the most intense market volatility since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Shifting the focus back to a bilateral trade war with China, **Edited no politics** said he would raise to 125% the tariff on imports from China. The U.S. reciprocal tariff on India stands at 10%.

Maybe there were existing tariffs, so that the total is now 27%? But since the initial 'reciprocal' tariff for India was 26%, it seems likely that that is what the 27% refers to.

It's kind of hard to keep track these days.

 

[Texas Leaguer]

I'm confused. I had thought that India, like most other countries, was included in the 'pause', so the current so-called 'reciprocal' tariff would be only 10%. I've looked for something specific. This Reuters article, dated Apr 10, seems to confirm that the pause applies to India. Quote from the article:

On Wednesday, **Edited no politics** temporarily lowered duties on trading partners including India, just 24 hours after imposing tariffs that unleashed the most intense market volatility since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Shifting the focus back to a bilateral trade war with China, **Edited no politics** said he would raise to 125% the tariff on imports from China. The U.S. reciprocal tariff on India stands at 10%.

Maybe there were existing tariffs, so that the total is now 27%? But since the initial 'reciprocal' tariff for India was 26%, it seems likely that that is what the 27% refers to.

Thank you for mentioning this. I need to get clarification as to when exactly we recieved notification from the vendor and whether this increase has been delayed. I will report back as soon as I have clarity. Fortunately, this particular situation is isolated to only one of our vendors at this point.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

Looks like the sort of job Americans will be lining up to apply for.

thats what ive been thinking
and no one in NZ would be linning up to do that either, along with many other highly developed countries
also unlike when i was at high school no one wants to pick fruit here anymore either, just like a couple of you good folk were saying , we are getting lazy
we have to import tempoary workers from the Pacific to pick fruit now or it rots on the ground

dang im ment to be

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

oh and congradulations to the UK and India ho just signed a trade deal

 

[Snowdrop13]

Chinese president now on a tour of SE Asia, no doubt looking to strengthen ties and drum up business. Maybe this will be a good thing for the world, resulting in China softening relations with some countries.

 

[missy]

Chinese president now on a tour of SE Asia, no doubt looking to strengthen ties and drum up business. Maybe this will be a good thing for the world, resulting in China softening relations with some countries.

Doubtful anything will change anytime soon between the EU and China but we shall see.

The EU and China have had a contentious relationship. Marked by investigations and retaliatory actions linked to trade. On both sides. And not just from trade tensions. None of this has/had anything to do with the USA.

In addition there ongoing concerns over the human right issues in China. None of this goes away as a result of the USA's actions and now becoming an "adversary" so to speak.

I mean this is wishful thinking on some people's parts but that doesn't make it so. Maybe over a long period of time but no one can predict.

Unless China makes some huge concessions I don't see their relationship improving anytime soon with the EU. But again no one can predict anything for sure so time will tell.

 

[Calliecake]

The current policies reflect no decisions have been made looking any further than 15 minutes ahead. There has been no thought, planning or investigating how these decisions will impact our country or the world.

We have lost so much these past weeks. Relationships that took many many decades to build are now destroyed. Respect and trust for our country is gone. We are being left behind as new alliances are being formed. What is happening in the world right now is due to the actions of the US. To think otherwise is disingenuous.

 

[Texas Leaguer]

The current policies reflect no decisions have been made looking any further than 15 minutes ahead. There has been no thought, planning or investigating how these decisions will impact our country or the world.

We have lost so much these past weeks. Relationships that took many many decades to build are now destroyed. Respect and trust for our country is gone. We are being left behind as new alliances are being formed. What is happening in the world right now is due to the actions of the US. To think otherwise is disingenuous.

Which is pretty evident from the fact they had to back down and "pause" after they saw the catastrophic reaction around the world. Except for China of course - they insanely tripled down on them after they retaliated. Now it seems, they can't even manage to get Xi on the phone to discuss. That's what happens when bluster is substituted for professional diplomacy.

 

[Ibrakeforpossums]

If you lived in farm country, you would know how many farmers, who live very nice lives, live off large government subsidies at this point.

Ah, the poor farmer... If there is a growing season that totally wipes out a crop, I can see that but if exporting the farm production for our country was opened up for free trade, the farmers wouldn't need to live off taxpayers and could afford the big, fancy equipment they own. As an aside, it would be an important statistic to show how many of the farms are now corporations with large tracts of land receiving these subsidies. Look under the covers..

I live in farm country, the farmer who rents my land for hay uses the winter for fixing his old Fords. Thank heaven he left my land in hay and didn't put it into beans. His wife has MS, I see him just getting by while she has (limited) homecare. He's a bright guy but certainly not living the life you describe. The farmers you talk about are probably out there but I've never met any in my 35 years out here.