Tractors and (upcoming) tariffs?

[ruffdog]

Businesses thrive on certainty, not chaos.

Chaos begets chaos. I also see the value of the dollar is dropping. That is an added tariff for all things we trade with.

What is the US dollar worth right now?


The current value of U.S. Dollar Index is 103.829 USD — it has fallen by −0.30% in the past 24 hours.

 

[Muhammad]

154 posts merged into our designated political thread: https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/threads/you-might-love-this-idea-you-might-hate-it.476927/

This thread is only for the discussion of tractors and tariffs, not the politics behind the tariffs. You're welcome to continue that discussion in the thread linked above.

 

[big bubba]

for the sake of civil discussion on a tractor related forum, have to agree

 

[etpm]

Based on an email I received from my investment advisor this morning I'm pretty sure we will see a significant rise in tractors and tractor parts. I'm sure folks who need new tractors are going to suffer.
Eric

 

[2manyrocks]

I bought a Igland 3501 tractor winch from a Vermont company that arrived last week. Saw that the PTO shaft is from an Italian company, but a made in China sticker on it. The three choker chains also have china stamped on the choker hooks, but no idea about the chain itself. Winch is labeled as made in Lithuania. How the tariffs would have impacted the price if I were buying this week, IDK.

 

[Mtsoxfan]

My financial adviser and I are on the same page. We discuss my goals, timelines etc. He has authority to make decisions, he is not knee jerk reaction advisor. has the pulse of the market, foresight etc. Most investors have a balance that goes down every so often. You only lose it you cash out when it's low. The last time "the sky was falling" so many people were up in arms. With my investor and investments, I was "whole" again within 6 months. And it was only the aggressive investments that went down in value for the most part.
Investing can be like gambling. A bit more complicated, but like gambling. Don't want value going down, invest in safe investments.

Back to tractors, I don't want it to happen to someone else, but if for some reason they need to sell off equipment I need, I'm in. My needs are for homeowner land upkeep. So needs are a very small list.

 

[Hay Dude]

Want some sunshine on the tariffs and our tractors?
All our tractors are now worth more money. So when you sell, you'll get more. Also, the higher prices will force dealers to be more competitive with each other. Since there's less demand in the market, supply will increase, that will force dealers to price more aggressively to move inventory that's been sitting.

Try to look at the bright side of life for maybe 1 minute of each day instead of "the sky is falling" 24/7/365

 

[Hay Dude]

Well in your heavily biased example, it's obvious what will happen.

But is that happening in real life?

I don't know.

Ford Motor Company announces lower “employee” pricing.

But the sky is falling!

 

[sunandsand]

Well, I'm hoping the tariffs will increase the value of older tractors because the newer ones just significantly went up in price. (I have an L285 I want to sell.) The problem I have with tariffs is a price increase is justifiable if you get a better product for more money, but if you get the SAME OLD product for more money, well, y'all gitt'n hosed, son.

There are some industries we don't want to bring back to the US. As an example, our city bought baseball caps with the city logo embroidered on each one.

Turns out NOBODY in the entire US of A makes baseball caps! They're made in third world sweatshops, under tents, by underage slave labor (well . . . ) who, if they are lucky, might make 30 cents an hour before it gets stolen from them. That's why baseball caps are cheap - very low labor costs - and baseball caps are NOT vital to our national security. If they were made here and we actually paid a living wage to the employees, baseball caps would be ten times the cost they are now.

We had the embroidery (the value added) done by a company in Miami, which to the best of my knowledge is still part of the USA. The caps were cheap, the embroidery wasn't. (And we've sold over 4,000 caps in a town of 2,000 people!)

I think the shotgun approach to tariffs - tariffs on EVERYTHING is wrong. There shouldn't be tariffs on stuff we don't want to make (baseball caps) because there are no US producers and we really don't want any. A company making low value baseball caps is a company which ISN'T making higher value aerospace or medical products - and those are the business we want to get to come back here and protect once they are here.

Can we make tractors here? Yes, we can, and we did. Should we? That's where it gets murky. Some parts are more effectively sourced from overseas. Some parts are best made here. What's the US-made content of "this" tractor? (This is the same discussion the car world is having.) Do tariffs apply to the entire vehicle or just the imported parts, and at varying amounts depending on where the parts are from?

The only real winners right now are the accountants who have to figure this out. Recall what Mark Twain said - "For every problem, there is a simple, fast answer - which is wrong." Across the board tariffs to "restore American manufacturing", whether it is tractors, automobiles or baseball caps isn't going the "fix" the problem, it will just make things more costly and thus reduce our standard of living.

If tractors cost more, the things that tractors "produce" such as food, land clearing, road construction, even mowing the back 40, are all going to cost more - there's a significant knock-on effect when the tools, the machinery of production - the producers of wealth - are hobbled.

Old Chinese curse - may you live in interesting times. We do.

Best Regards,
Mike/Florida

 

[jyoutz]

Ford Motor Company announces lower “employee” pricing.

But the sky is falling!

View attachment 3220233

Let’s see what Fords cost two months from now. These sales are on pre-tariff vehicles. Many car dealers in my area are advertising pre-tariff sales. And some commercials say that when these vehicles are gone, prices will increase by 25%. “So get these while they last.” These commercials play on radio every 15 minutes and they are different dealers.

 

[Hay Dude]

Let’s see what Fords cost two months from now. These sales are on pre-tariff vehicles. Many car dealers in my area are advertising pre-tariff sales. And some commercials say that when these vehicles are gone, prices will increase by 25%. “So get these while they last.” These commercials play on radio every 15 minutes and they are different dealers.

Psssst…..Toyota is not increasing prices due to tariffs, either!
And now Nissan might follow suit!

 

[ultrarunner]

American Made Baseball Cap | Custom Embroidered Hats | Americap

100% custom-made from AmeriCap since 1989. Our American made baseball caps are made from the highest quality materials in a variety of styles!

americap.com

 

[sunandsand]

American Made Baseball Cap | Custom Embroidered Hats | Americap

100% custom-made from AmeriCap since 1989. Our American made baseball caps are made from the highest quality materials in a variety of styles!

americap.com

Thank you for that! We need more caps, and when we were looking for the first couple of batches, we were not aware of Americap.

I'll be contacting them for samples and prices!

I really do prefer to buy American when possible. Given the choice of two more-or-less comparable items, I'll buy a US made one every time.

Best Regards,
Mike/Florida

 

[ruffdog]

Thank you for that! We need more caps, and when we were looking for the first couple of batches, we were not aware of Americap.

I'll be contacting them for samples and prices!

I really do prefer to buy American when possible. Given the choice of two more-or-less comparable items, I'll buy a US made one every time.

Best Regards,
Mike/Florida

Yes, I also buy American when I can. Everything from clothes, tools, vehicles, mowers, etc,etc,etc.

 

[ruffdog]

Maybe it is a quick hurry-up sale before the other shoe drops. Some are predicting stagflation and that can be a nasty thing to fix.

Let’s see what Fords cost two months from now. These sales are on pre-tariff vehicles. Many car dealers in my area are advertising pre-tariff sales. And some commercials say that when these vehicles are gone, prices will increase by 25%. “So get these while they last.” These commercials play on radio every 15 minutes and they are different dealers.

 

[Hay Dude]

With 100,000 American factories closed in the last 30-40 years, there’s not much left to buy that’s American made. Hopefully, the tariffs help

 

[ultrarunner]

Thank you for that! We need more caps, and when we were looking for the first couple of batches, we were not aware of Americap.

I'll be contacting them for samples and prices!

I really do prefer to buy American when possible. Given the choice of two more-or-less comparable items, I'll buy a US made one every time.

Best Regards,
Mike/Florida

I always ask the made in USA question.

I bought 40 Fire Extinguishers last year and the model offered imported…

I said no USA and vendor said yes for $1 more per extinguisher… no brainer for me.

Sometimes all you have to do is ask and how little the difference may surprise.

 

[ultrarunner]

1995 did a major hospital expansion and most everything made in USA.

Anesthesia machines, surgical lights, sterilizers, operating room tables, etc. USA

5 years later in 2000 some of the same now sourced from Europe.

The last 10 years most from China even from old American companies like GE…

With some items options are limited… I’ve been pushing for over a year to retire some 1995 equipment and expect large price increases going forward…

So much of what is used and consumed in the medical field is imported…

 

[ruffdog]

I always ask the made in USA question.

I bought 40 Fire Extinguishers last year and the model offered imported…

I said no USA and vendor said yes for $1 more per extinguisher… no brained for me.

With the value of the dollar dropping, goods shipped in will cost more.......but,.....Investors say it's a sign that the greenback's global standing may be eroding. The dollar, for decades a safe haven, on Thursday fell about 1.7% in its biggest daily drop since November 2022. It has dropped 5.5% in the last 3 months.

 

[jyoutz]

Psssst…..Toyota is not increasing prices due to tariffs, either!
And now Nissan might follow suit!

We’ll see what happens in a couple of months.