China is doing what they can to make sure that the added cost for companies to import goods remains the same otherwise the cost would have to go up for the company to keep it’s profit margin. If that happens and the price goes up the consumer would pay for it. At a certain price the consumer says, “I’m not paying THAT price” and they go to another product. This again hurts the company that brought in their cheap Chinese goods. The company will start losing business to competitors who don’t have that added tariff and the company says, hmm..maybe we need to get our stuff from non tariffed countries. They then move their manufacturing from China to compete and have the same price point with the same profit margin. China, knowing this, has to make sure that the company doesn’t have to raise their prices because of the tariffs. To do that it seems as though they’ve been devaluing their currency by the percentage of the tariffs. 10%, their currency is worth 10% less so the company can get more bang for their buck (needs a more detailed explanation here I know). This is why things aren’t going up by 10 and 25 percent. The company can eat it or China can. To date China has been eating the cost. Good luck with that as a long term strategy though. If I were on a computer I could have given a better explanation.
Could be happening that way (don’t forget Yuan devaluation making their stuff cheaper)...but I haven’t dug enough to find out the current cost of items at the port of entry vs. a year ago for example (probably a WalMart secret). In any case, “direct to consumer” items like Christmas lights/decorations, toys, etc. would have been affected in price starting Sep. 1...that is why Pres. Trump delayed the tariffs on items like that until December...until after the ships have unloaded all that Christmas stuff and it is in the supply chain already....he knows the consumer would pay. I was initially responding to an assertion the “China is paying the tariffs/duties directly”...which is incorrect.
As far as shifting the manufacturing to another communist country...that really shouldn’t be the goal either...not a “win” in my book even tho it may hurt China. The goal is USA manufacturing...but with our labor costs people are going to have to get used to paying 50-100% more for their Christmas lights, etc, etc, etc..