US reciprocal tariffs

[JazzBaloo]

Going off track a bit with fentanyl and saying the American president is a lame *uck and the Chinese dictator. Many Americans would be insulted as well as Chinese citizens. Let's see how these tarrifs work out and hope it's for the best.

[bdawg923]

Going off track a bit with fentanyl and saying the American president is a lame *uck and the Chinese dictator. Many Americans would be insulted as well as Chinese citizens. Let's see how these tarrifs work out and hope it's for the best.

LOL. I said lame duck. Not lame f u c k. You should know what you're disagreeing about before you disagree for the sake of disagreeing. Didn't expect someone to defend a dictator though.

[kevork]

Trump is a lame duck president by definition, so that is an objective statement.

Xi Jinping is an authoritarian leader. The word dictator can be argued.

None of these are words of insult to one's character.

[MagikFingerz]

Woah, woah, are we just casually throwing around the D-word now?? What has this place come to...

/s

[hsbc]

From Relativity Playing Cards:

Hi all, this is a very important update and equally awful to compose and read.

Mutineer: Longest Night was to be $85 per deck. This price was based on the deck's expensive production cost plus the 20% tariffs that existed at the time. Shortly after I put the decks up for sale, tariffs increased to 54%. That put my cost of production just a hair above what I was charging. I honestly planned to just weather the storm and hope enough decks were pre-ordered that my cost-per-deck would come down and I would at least break even. My priority with these projects has always been delivering to you, my incredible fans and supporters.

Now, tariffs have exploded to 145%. My cost per deck is above $140. And costs to produce prototypes, etc., for the Antigrav tier have similarly skyrocketed. I cannot.

There are 2 options: cancel or wait. If you've pre-ordered decks, I can cancel those orders. If you want to drop your membership, I can only offer a partial refund. I would like it if we could just collectively hold our breath and wait for a viable printing option.

...

[bdawg923]

[kevork]

Tariffs
Since the last update on April 2 (yes, 11 days ago), the tariff situation has gotten even more chaotic. In that timeframe, the U.S. Administration announced sweeping tariffs on virtually all countries—including China. Then, just days later, it increased the tariff on Chinese imports to as high as 145%, while reducing tariffs from other countries to 10%. And a few days after that, it announced that increased tariffs on imports from China will exclude cell phones, semiconductors, flat screen TVs, computers, and other electronics.

That tells me one thing: if the Playing Card lobby pressures the White House hard enough, we can get playing cards excluded too. Ha! Obviously, there is no Playing Card lobby—so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens over the coming weeks.

As you can imagine, this entire situation is extremely complicated for small businesses like ours that rely on partners in China for production. We’re doing our due diligence by talking with other designers and fulfillment companies to see if anyone has come up with a viable solution. The extremely high tariffs currently in place make it nearly impossible to import any of our products to the U.S. without incurring very high unexpected costs. Even small shipments to the United States will be affected, so shipping orders directly from China—or even from the EU—is looking challenging as well. I do believe this will get worked out eventually, though I don’t know when. So, we'll continue to explore options and keep you informed along the way.

[Honeybee]

Jackson asks "Does that mean the retail price for you would go up 145% ..... I don't know"

I don't think maths is Jackson's strength. Let's keep it simple and say that production cost of deck is 50% of the final price (it would be less) in that case an increase of 145% (not actually that much as there was already some tariff) would see only half that reflected in the final price total price = 72.5% increase

I tend to think that what seems an outrageous tariff of 145% would actually only see an increase of 30%+
Not good for demand but nowhere near 145%

[Eric Lee]

[Pure speculation: USPCC's paper is likely US-made but I'd be very surprised if their factory equipment is made domestically

JR posted on discord that USPCC did inform him prices for custom decks will go up by 2.5% effective 1 April due to paper costs as they source from Canada and Mexico. So not as bad .... yet.

[hsbc]

Hong Kong Post said on Wednesday it had suspended goods mail services by sea to the United States and will suspend its air mail postal service for items containing goods from April 27 ...

[GandalfPC]

I have begun practice making my own decks out of leaves and bits of trash that blow into the yard in preparation for the hard times…

[Honeybee]

Maybe you could practice with this project

[TorresOVER]

As we mentioned last time, the world’s changing fast, even I really wish this trade war can end soon but still need to plan ahead. We’re looking to invest in a factory line in Vietnam as a backup printing option. There’s a chance Prequel & Sequel could be the first decks printed in Vietnam, depending on how things go.

[CallOn84]

The reality is that there's going to be tariffs put on products, one way or another, even if you move manufacturing into the US. You may think printing with USPCC could avoid the added costs of tariffs, but as many of you know, tariffs get passed onto the consumer/business. From the chemicals to the material for foiling, card stock materials, everything would likely be sourced from other countries. Therefore, we'll pay the tariff costs indirectly anyway.

To echo what bdawg923 has said, President Trump has no understanding of economics. He wants the Federal Reserve to reduce interest rates to counter the inflationary pressure that's been caused by tariffs. Anyone who's studied economics, like I've done, knows that's a terrible idea and will only lead to further increased prices for both consumers and businesses.

As I'm looking to get back into completing my Tradgdy of Macbeth Playing Cards for release, hearing this as both an enthusiast, a collector, and a creator is not only frustrating but baffling.

[zlexander]

The reality is that there's going to be tariffs put on products, one way or another, even if you move manufacturing into the US. You may think printing with USPCC could avoid the added costs of tariffs, but as many of you know, tariffs get passed onto the consumer/business. From the chemicals to the material for foiling, card stock materials, everything would likely be sourced from other countries. Therefore, we'll pay the tariff costs indirectly anyway.

To echo what bdawg923 has said, President Trump has no understanding of economics. He wants the Federal Reserve to reduce interest rates to counter the inflationary pressure that's been caused by tariffs. Anyone who's studied economics, like I've done, knows that's a terrible idea and will only lead to further increased prices for both consumers and businesses.

As I'm looking to get back into completing my Tradgdy of Macbeth Playing Cards for release, hearing this as both an enthusiast, a collector, and a creator is not only frustrating but baffling.

Hi just curious, what if the creator decides to fulfil from the Country where its manufactured? Like if manufactured in China and fulfilled from China ,then do the Creators dont have to pay tarriff and only receiver will pay whatever the charge is?(like custom duty)

[CallOn84]

The reality is that there's going to be tariffs put on products, one way or another, even if you move manufacturing into the US. You may think printing with USPCC could avoid the added costs of tariffs, but as many of you know, tariffs get passed onto the consumer/business. From the chemicals to the material for foiling, card stock materials, everything would likely be sourced from other countries. Therefore, we'll pay the tariff costs indirectly anyway.

To echo what bdawg923 has said, President Trump has no understanding of economics. He wants the Federal Reserve to reduce interest rates to counter the inflationary pressure that's been caused by tariffs. Anyone who's studied economics, like I've done, knows that's a terrible idea and will only lead to further increased prices for both consumers and businesses.

As I'm looking to get back into completing my Tradgdy of Macbeth Playing Cards for release, hearing this as both an enthusiast, a collector, and a creator is not only frustrating but baffling.

Hi just curious, what if the creator decides to fulfil from the Country where its manufactured? Like if manufactured in China and fulfilled from China ,then do the Creators dont have to pay tarriff and only receiver will pay whatever the charge is?(like custom duty)

It depends on who's received it.

If we look at it from a typical BTC (Business To Customer) business, if the goods were manufactured in China, and the goods are received by the business, the business would be liable to pay for customs duty and tariffs upon arrival before they can collect the product.

In our case, other creators and I aren't receiving the product; the product is received by the fulfilment company. However, the fulfilment company is going to have you pay for the customs duty and tariffs, which is typical practice anyway. So, it is likely that you would be contacted to pay for the product, so that the product can be let into the country and arrive at the fulfilment warehouse to deliver to you. Now, if the creator has their own in-house fulfilment (Like, for example, Jocu Playing Cards), then I expect that they'll pay for the customs duty and tariffs cause they are the receiver of the product.

[Honeybee]

An understandable but nevertheless worrying update from one of my Kickstarter purchases:

Well, I was putting off this update for a while since the administration has been known to change international policy from one day to the next. But at least for now the tariffs on imported goods for this project is prohibitive. 245% on products is just not economically possible. Even 40% would have been hard, but I could have made that work.

For now, the playing card manufacturer is holding on to the completed card shipment and waiting until things change. This will of course result in a delay but it's actually good news. If those cards hit the ports with the large tariff prices right now I would not be able to afford to get them!

In addition to waiting for the tariff situation to change, there will probably be a backup at the ports when product finally starts moving through.

So I apologize for this current delay but obviously this is part of a global trade war that is much larger than this humble project!

Believe when I say my number one goal is to get these cards in your hands without any additional fees. I check the news every day to see if there's any movement and I have been in regular contact with the factory.

Feel free to send me a direct message if you have any questions, otherwise I will update again when the situation changes or if it starts dragging out too long just to let you know I'm still here!

Thank you for your patience while we wait this one out!

[CallOn84]

An understandable but nevertheless worrying update from one of my Kickstarter purchases:

Well, I was putting off this update for a while since the administration has been known to change international policy from one day to the next. But at least for now the tariffs on imported goods for this project is prohibitive. 245% on products is just not economically possible. Even 40% would have been hard, but I could have made that work.

For now, the playing card manufacturer is holding on to the completed card shipment and waiting until things change. This will of course result in a delay but it's actually good news. If those cards hit the ports with the large tariff prices right now I would not be able to afford to get them!

In addition to waiting for the tariff situation to change, there will probably be a backup at the ports when product finally starts moving through.

So I apologize for this current delay but obviously this is part of a global trade war that is much larger than this humble project!

Believe when I say my number one goal is to get these cards in your hands without any additional fees. I check the news every day to see if there's any movement and I have been in regular contact with the factory.

Feel free to send me a direct message if you have any questions, otherwise I will update again when the situation changes or if it starts dragging out too long just to let you know I'm still here!

Thank you for your patience while we wait this one out!

The biggest issue of all this is the constant flip-flopping of the current administration when it comes to tariffs. Businesses want certainty and assurance when economic changes like this happen. They expect that if tariff changes were made today, they would stay that way for the foreseeable future until policy changes are made. However, they're not getting any of that, which is causing a lot of uncertainty and panic.

[Eric Lee]

Finally talks have happened and tariff rates have dropped to a more sane level, with a 90 day pause. Plus small packages now at 54% or $100 min vs 120%.

Tuesday, 13 May 2025 1:14 PM MYT
WASHINGTON, May 13 — The United States and China announced Monday an agreement to drastically reduce tit-for-tat tariffs for 90 days, an outcome President Donald Trump dubbed a “total reset” as he said talks with counterpart Xi Jinping could soon follow.

After the first meetings between Washington and Beijing since Trump ratcheted up his trade war, the world’s two biggest economies agreed in a joint statement to bring their triple-digit tariffs down to two figures and continue negotiations.
...

“Yesterday we achieved a total reset with China after productive talks in Geneva,” Trump said. “I’ll speak to President Xi, maybe at the end of the week.”

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described weekend discussions with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and international trade representative Li Chenggang as “productive” and “robust” with both sides anticipated to meet again soon.

...

The United States agreed to lower its tariffs on Chinese goods to 30 per cent while China will reduce its own to 10 per cent.

These actions take effect at 12.01am on Wednesday, according to an executive order released by the White House.

The United States also lowered a levy on low-value imports from China that had hit e-commerce sites such as Shein and Temu.

Under Trump’s executive order, “de minimis” items sent through the US Postal Service will be hit with duties of 54 per cent of their value, or a US$100 (RM430) payment. The prior tariff had been set at 120 per cent.

Bessent told CNBC Monday that he expects United States and Chinese representatives to meet again in the coming weeks to work out “a more fulsome agreement.”

While Washington does not want broad decoupling from China, it seeks “decoupling for strategic necessities,” Bessent said.

He added to CNBC that the 90-day pause was also done to see what the United States could do about non-tariff barriers weighing on US firms.

China hailed the “substantial progress” made at the talks, held at the discreet villa residence of Switzerland’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva.

This move “is in the interest of the two countries and the common interest of the world,” the Chinese commerce ministry said, adding that it hoped Washington would keep working with Beijing “to correct the wrong practice of unilateral tariff rises.”

With the agreement, China also committed to suspending or removing non-tariff countermeasures.

The US additional tariff rate remains higher than China’s because it includes a 20 per cent levy over Trump’s complaints about Chinese exports of chemicals used to make fentanyl, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told reporters.

“Those remain unchanged for now,” he said. But “both the Chinese and United States agreed to work constructively together on fentanyl and there is a positive path forward there as well.”

In a joint statement, the two sides agreed to “establish a mechanism to continue discussions about economic and trade relations.”

“I think we leave with a very good mechanism to avoid the unfortunate escalations,” Bessent said, noting that the tariffs had essentially created a trade “embargo” between the two superpowers.

China’s commerce ministry said both parties “will conduct rolling consultations on a regular or ad hoc basis in China, the US or agreed third countries.”

A suspension of higher tariffs marks “substantial de-escalation,” said Capital Economics chief Asia economist Mark Williams in a note.

But “there is no guarantee that the 90-day truce will give way to a lasting ceasefire,” he warned.

Washington appears to be seeking to rally others towards introducing restrictions on trade with China, he said.

Nonetheless, the latest development signals negotiations are moving to a more conciliatory phase, according to a Deutsche Bank Research note.

Zhiwei Zhang, president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, believes the outcome of the weekend meeting was a “success” for Beijing.

“China took a tough stance on the US threat of high tariffs and eventually managed to get the tariffs down significantly without making concessions,” he said.

Trump’s tariffs and high rates targeting China have rocked financial markets, raising fears the levies would rekindle inflation and cause a global economic downturn.

The Geneva meeting came days after Trump unveiled a trade agreement with Britain, the first with any country since his new duties on both friend and foe. — AFP

https://www.malaymail.com/news/money/20 ... e_vignette

[bdawg923]

Still insane tariffs, just less insane than before.

[MagikFingerz]

Still insane tariffs, just less insane than before.

Classic anchoring.

[mardem1976]

Figured I’d put this here.

Ordered a pack from Legends PCC about two weeks ago, and hadn’t heard anything. I shot them an email yesterday, but today went to their site to find this:

ALL SHIPMENTS TO USA ARE CURRENTLY SUSPENDED DUE TO THE TRADE WARS. We will get back to shipping as soon as the post office allows USA shipments from Taiwan again. Deepest apologies for the inconvenience.

[A. Haines]

The de-minimis exemption for small parcels has also been scrapped, which is not good. But let me just take this opportunity to shamelessly plug ahplayingcards.com as we now use a pre-duty paid shipping option to the usa where all customs handling and import fees are included in a single up-front flat fee! Slightly more than our old flat-rate shipping fee, but better value the more you add to the cart, and your parcels go straight through customs without delays or extra fees. Just doing our bit to keep the wheels turning in these crazy times.

Hey, if I don't sell my own shop nobody else will

Cheers!

[acetofive]

The de-minimis exemption for small parcels has also been scrapped

Anyone experience this yet? How is it playing out (held at customs, fee forwarded...)?

[A. Haines]

We have a couple of parcels in transit. I have asked customers to let me know how they get on. I will come back with an update! In theory, everything should just glide through as both customs handling fees and import taxes have been paid up front to the postal provider who have an arrangement with US Customs that parcels sent using this service are good to go. Fingers crossed!

[acetofive]

Even if transit and delivery go smoothly, the increased cost is absurd.

[ALBERTO68]

Shipping from Italy
to the US are suspended until customs figures out what duties will apply.

[acetofive]

USA Today: 30 countries suspend shipping to the US.

[GandalfPC]

Zenmarket in Japan has been warning me that I may need to hold my shipments there for a while until things sort out - I guess I am about to find out what it costs to store things there for extended period, hopefully not too extended…

[zlexander]

Went to Government Post Office , well Shipping to US has been paused , they are not even accepting below 100$ packages ,I asked when it will be sorted , they said there is no info and no exact timeline . But Private Services like FedEX , UPS and DHL etc are accepting shipment to US , their rates are a bit on the higher side . Since Post office couldnt give me a date , I ended up shipping via a private courier service .