To understand the quartz tariff dispute fully, you need to understand what is going on with China and its currency.
China has two types of currency, offshore and onshore with strict outflow controls. When we buy from China, China keeps our USD for themselves and gives on-shore money to their citizens.
Who cares?
Fabricators should care! We are getting robbed blind!
Let me put it this way, let's pretend I buy a countertop from your shop. You get my USD, I get your countertop. Simple easy transaction.
However, would your business be more profitable if you were allowed to pay your workers with monopoly money?
You get the real money, you pay your workers with the monopoly money, maybe you even give them a monopoly money raise.
Well guess what! That is what China is doing to us! They are subsidizing astonishing amounts of countertops being produced with fake money while keeping our real money!
The citizens don't care, the money still works inside their borders.
But this is incredibly unfair to us from a competitive standpoint as fabricators. We stand no chance! Absolutely zero chance to compete on a price basis.
How can we ever compete with a government that pays fabricators bills for them with fake money! We're not talking one shop, we're talking about the most powerful manufacturing country in the world.
I personally love quartz, it's become a huge market for our industry. It helps our fabrication businesses thrive, it's a lot of the reason why a lot of us are so successful.
I've had companies ask, can you do this apartment building for $xx.xx per sqft? No, I can't do that apartment for $xx.xx sqft, the material alone will cost more than the price you're asking for!
How the hell is China making countertops for less than the cost to buy the material?
Bingo! Their not, they are getting paid with fake money to subsidize the costs while their government keeps the real money for themselves. It's genius. I respect the hell out of the design.
So why would any fabricator be against the tariffs?
If you're a big fabricator who imports material and cut to size projects from China, it's terrible news for you! That is an easy advantage over your competitors who do not do the same.
Nothing wrong with it. I'm not against it. It's smart business and I don't blame you for you doing it!
But if your shop isn't directly importing from China, hurrah Marty for standing up against China.
Everyday, we see new machines getting installed all over the country. These sophisticated machines are in higher quantities than ever before. We can now cut faster and cheaper with technology.
What we don't need is a country selling countertops against our own market who we stand zero ability to compete with no matter how well we run our business! That is not fair!
We should thank Marty.
I believe if Marty succeeds with the tariffs, it will bring a lot of new projects online that us fabricators never had in our reach before.
It will fill someones shop.
Even if it's your competitor's shop, that's fine. We need the demand to keep up with fabrication supply.
Marty's tariffs are going to help fill our saws domestically.
We shouldn't have to compete against a foreign government that we stand no chance of competing against because they are manipulating their currency.
We should have fair competition where how we run our business is what makes the difference.
As fabricators, we don't have the power to print our own monopoly money. We shouldn't have to compete against competition that does.
China's unfair trade policies don't just effect us, they affect our tool guys, equipment suppliers, our support technicians, our workers, and everyone else involved in our industry!
On a side note, I do not believe the retro tariffs or back tariffs are fair. No one should go out of business for trying to be smart! Marty should work to have those dropped.
My name is Ryan and I am the founder of RoboTop. If you would like to talk, you can reach me at ryan@tryrobotop.com or visit www.tryrobotop.com.
I've personally never met Marty and Marty does not know who I am.