We can start by not buying anything Made In China as much as possible, however I fail to ever see that happening, as most are quick to forget their morals when it hits their wallets.
I'm older and don't need a lot beyond the food and shelter I work for, I have plenty of "stuff".
But buying clothing, gifts, electronics, well, the list is long and I won't try to cover everything here, that doesn't have at least part of it's assembly provided by China is not easy to avoid. It's not just people's wallets, it's time, it's lack of knowledge and one's ability to figure out how to get what they need without involving China in the acquisition.
I agree with you, but let's not pretend that we don't stop "buying from China" because we're all too lazy and greedy to do so. We could use some legislative and corporate support and I think a lot more people would get on board.
I have the opposite experience. I find it's becoming increasingly easy. I'm finding myself surprised that most things aren't made in china. So far the only thing I haven't been able to get was a waffle maker -- I can do without! Or I should just actually get a $300 waffle maker instead of something stupid that will probably break after a few runs
The hardest to find was a power drill.
I suspect that much of this is labor costs in china going up and manufacturing moving to India, Pakistan, Thailand, vietnam
Also -- I don't buy much from Amazon anymore, so this is going to b&m establishments
Also I just saw that they actually sell the individual parts should you need to replace something. This company seems like a real gem.
I did this for a while but a lot of US manufacturers seem to like producing low quality items for a high price under the label "Made in USA".
So, it is probably important to verify that such products are not from prison labor.
China has is rightly criticized for unjustified incarceration, particularly in Xinjiang, but the US incarcerates many more on largely similar pretexts, which amounts to a much larger fraction of its population. Reducing US incarceration rate is a moral imperative.
There's an explicit carve out in the 13th amendment's slavery prohibition for people convicted of crimes.
Many private prisons have contracts with states guaranteeing them a quota of prisoners, on pain of monetary penalties. It becomes the job of police and courts to deliver that quota, regardless of behavior, because there is no money budgeted for penalties.
Everybody can be found guilty of something, if you want to.
You have a bit better chances if you instead whitelist countries with stricter rules of origin (for example, Made in USA requires 50% of the components to be made here) but even then much of the supply chain for that item will probably trace back to China.
You're still doing one stage better; but also you'd be surprised how much of that supply chain doesn't come from china, especially now, with supply chain issues and manufacturers using it as opportunity to re-tool their sourcing.
Depending on where you live and what you like....DeWalt and high end Craftsman make drills in the USA. Makita makes some in Japan. I believe Bosch does some in Germany, but don't quote me on that.
Sadly the battery packs are still made in china though.
Battery tech seems to be a big problem in general.
They just assemble the case and circuitry in China.
If that’s just assembly that would make sense considering Samsung’s expertese.
Model to Google for Craftsman is CMCD720
An example of the latter, Fairphone used trains to move the assembled smartphones to EU. Those trains moved from China through Russia, dven during and after Crimea conflict and MH17 disaster.
Its a shame I don't have a link handy to their supply chain infographic. It is so detailed, includes all corporations and locations, that it would warrant a HN submission within its own. OTOH, they yet have to make it for their recent product, FP4.
For stuff like electronics is impossible, it’s almost all made in China. The only solution I see it keeping stuff for longer or buying used.
But I find it easy to avoid chinese products, for example I just recently was in the market for some cookware, I thought my choices were expensive American made pans, or cheap China, but in reality I found some very good cookware coming out of South America for very good price
i wonder if there is an app where it will tell you the origin of a product or a rating on the company based on ethics. like ethically sourced rating or something along those lines.
I realized the other day that if I saw a tray of "Made in China" utensils and a comparable tray of "Made in Africa/Europe/USA" utensils of roughly the same quality I'd happily pay a dollar or two extra, no questions asked for the ones that doesn't originate in China these days.
I ended up not buying it at all since there was no alternative that was not made in China and I really wasn't in the mood for buying anything Chinese after their recent bullying of Lithuania.
I am in the mood for buying something from Lithuania though, almost to the point of ordering a bag of fresh Lithuanian air for about $10 or $20 bucks just for the point of it if someone offers it.
They ship it straight from lithuania. I got one recently myself. Made it Lithuania also.
Then use this device to make Kugelis.
This doesn't apply only to China sourced goods.
In modern day, American companies have more to gain in China than they have to lose in the USA. The market they are chasing is 3 times larger than the US and the only "regulation" in sight is basically bribing local government.
Don't be surprised if the companies you boycott simply move operations to China and cut ties with the US.
China devalues its domestic currency on purpose so that oligarchs use the stronger American dollar as a vehicle. Once the companies move to China they can strengthen their domestic currency, shed the dollar, and then Americans will be making Ipads in factories with suicide nets and China will be sipping Starbucks wearing inexpensive "Made in USA" Apple watches
China is also an authoritarian regime that does not care about laws if a company doesn't play ball. They will just be shut down. This doesn't sound like a good market to put all your trust into.
China is in debt because the government wants to be in debt. They have to be to have population control. If there were no debt their population would have already busted.
The oligarchs who rule China don't use Chinese currency. So they are not impacted by debt levels. China also doesn't promote their currency internationally as a means of keeping domestic purchasing power low.
If you threaten China they will reverse these decisions and actually try to compete for quality of life. That's where western civilization as we know it ends. That's where the American empire falls and the Chinese empire rises.
This would require political revolution. The system is set up and dependent on a complex net of patronage among the elites. Competing for quality of life would mean taking their chips. People don't like it when you take their chips.
This might have been possible to do peacefully before Xi. But he's shown the cost of the competition is high. If you come in second place, you don't get another shot in five or ten years. You lose the chance of a lifetime, and will likely see yourself and your family persecuted by the state.
Either cut off the product supply through embargoes or taxes or build a competing supply chain...