Meanwhile in Illinois...

[jon-nyc]

My prediction: There will be a bill when this is over to repatriate critical medical manufacturing.

Then it’ll get watered down to useless in the Senate and we’ll be in more or less the same place.

[Jolly]

I'm not so sure. I think the country is bipartisan pissed at the Chinese. Bringing back essential medical is good for us and won't effect their bottom line very much.

[Copper]

Yes, I think the memory of this will be long, many years.

My take is that the panic is widespread and the result will be a significant federal budget to the lucky federal agency that manages the recovery.

[Mik]

This should be a wakeup call to the globalists. The world is still not a friendly place.

[Loki]

I agree with Jon. People are too used to cheap prices. It always wins.

[Mik]

Not as cheap as they used to be and I suspect they are going to get squeezed pretty good.

[Loki]

@Mik said in Meanwhile in Illinois...:

Not as cheap as they used to be and I suspect they are going to get squeezed pretty good.

A more diverse supply chain...but still outside the US.

Nearsourcing in Mexico could be one example.

[Mik]

Much rather see our dollars go to Mexico. It increases American security.

[Jolly]

Vietnam. Indonesia. Mexico. Central America.

In America, Puerto Rico or rural parts of the country.

Canada, Great Britain, the former Eastern Bloc.

Different level goods for different regions. Especially essential goods.

[Mik]

Yes indeed. If we were to invest more in the western hemisphere it could be very good for us.

[Copper]

You can't abandon countries neighboring China. We have to be active in the region.

[taiwan_girl]

I think that we on this forum board are all guilty. We talk about wanting to buy local, but my guess is that most of us (me included) will mainly shop on price. If we go into the store and there are too (somewhat) identical items, most people will buy the cheaper. Yes, yes, yes, I understand that "you get what you pay for", but a lot/most people $$$ savings > possible quality increase.

Companies follow the money. Seventy years ago, it was "Made in Japan", then it was "Made in Taiwan", then it was/is "Made in China". But already, companies are moving to other countries in SE Asia and East Asia as Jolly says above.

But I agree with JonNYC, I think it will be very very very difficult to force a consumer product to be made in the US. Military, etc., is one thing, but consumer is something different in my opinion.

[Mik]

Not me. I usually buy quality, not price. There is cost and there is value, and both must be considered. all my meat is local, and come spring and summer my produce will be too. Most of my baked goods are local. I pay a little more but I know what I'm getting and I know it is a better product.

[Aqua Letifer]

Same for most food items.

[Copper]

I would never buy a foreign car, no way.

Price matters, the feds can fix that with tariffs.

[George K]

@Copper said in Meanwhile in Illinois...:

I would never buy a foreign car, no way.

Do Hondas count as "foreign?"

[Copper]

Ford, GM, Jeep make more than enough cars to supply me.

Yes, I know Honda, Acura and Toyota have a high percentage of US manufacturing in them. But as a boomer it just doesn't sit right with me.

[jon-nyc]

@Copper said in Meanwhile in Illinois...:

But as a boomer it just doesn't sit right with me.

Ok, boomer.

[Copper]

Yup, it will die out.

[Axtremus]

With cars, buying an American brand is not a cost-quality trade off. For the same body type and size class, the typical Honda/Toyota that is more reliable than the typical GM/Ford is also more expensive. In any case, we don‘t import any car from China, so this is not a China problem.

For consumer electronics, there is not much of a choice ... computers, smartphones, tablets, Wi-Fi routers, USB hubs, etc. are all assembled in China. It’s still possible to get SSD manufactured in Korea, but I do not know for how long that will remain the case.

I have been avoiding food that‘s exported from mainland China for many years. Luckily there’s plenty of food being produced, processed, and packaged outside of China that I don’t think I sacrifice much in variety. That‘s the one category of things where I consciously pay more for “higher quality” (supposedly higher safety standards, I suppose).

Oh, and then there‘s critical national infrastructure. About taking the national wireless communications infrastructure to ”5G,“ yes, I think the mainland Chinese will offer lower cost for the equipment, but as a consumer, I am willing to pay more (indirectly) for non-Chinese equipment. Same goes for big network routers/switches used by the nation‘s telecommunications serivce providers. I suppose you can say that I am willing to pay more for ”higher quality“ in this case, it’s just that the ”quality“ in this case is wrapped in ”security“ — the security for my data and ”national security“ for my country. I am willing to pay more to avoid service providers that deploy mainland Chinese equipment in their networks.