Over the past many years, I’ve upgraded some of the lighting on my trucks with a couple companies. They pretty much have the same marketing: “we are American, 100% USA, flag heralds” and all that.
Get the box: “made in Taiwan.” I’m sure there was some basic design help from this side of the pond, esp in mounting/electrical connection specs, but at its core, it’s a 12V LED foglight. Pretty much standard fare. So why a few people in GA shipped it to me, I don’t know if I would call them American made.
Lights work pretty decent from 2 of the companies so far. The other one I used sells hot garbage.
Going all the way back to the original message. I love how they start the video with “This is not a political message”, then discuss how the tariffs are hurting them.
It. is. a. political. message.
Nothing wrong with making it, but be honest. I get it, a rather large percentage of modelers align with the party of the person in power, and they don’t want to alienate them, but you REALLY can’t play the middle here.
Also people wanting model trains to be excluded from tariffs - if we go that route, I can think of a lot more things that should be excluded before we get to model trains. sorry.
Our Canadian poster made a direct observation that his local building supply store parking lots are now crowded with US plates. That is news right there. Why do you suppose those citizens have chose to go thru the hassle of round trip border crossings? You don’t have to be a history major to remember the shortages and inflation post covid. You don’t have to be particularly prescient to anticipate that availability and costs will be stressed in the present trade war. People in the Seattle area are aware of the fall off in China shipping.
Totally with you on this one! It is most certainly political, even though the manufacturers would love for it not to be. About the only amusing part of all this nonsense is trying to watch all the wiggling to say we’re not being political and then model railroaders of a certain political bent trying to justify it.
Of course now we have a trade deal with the UK, so if I want to pick up that Royals Royce or Bently, I don’t have to pay a big tariff. Whew, I was really getting worried about that. LOL. And there have already been a bunch of exemptions for other things. It’s a proverbial you know what show.
It might be interesting to see if the companies who used tariffs as an excuse to raise prices during the short period the tariffs existed are as eager to lower prices as quickly, or if they will have some reason not to.
They may also justify it by “baking in” the uncertainty into the bottom line until a new normal is established (which from a business point of view makes sense).
They need to be able to afford any future tariffs if their product is sitting at the ports ready to be imported. Gives them more of a buffer. From a consumer point of view, we obviously hate it.
I’ve got a home-made system halfway there: a battery-powered RC relay controls the reverse unit and horn whilst the speed is still controlled with variable voltage. Probably wouldn’t fit in much of anything smaller than O (that’s why I didn’t put in a voltage regulator and the like).
