As the Importer of Record – I did business in China for many years. Any tariffs – that were levied on the products I imported – were paid by me. I then had to decide whether to pass those costs on to my customer. I don’t think that tariff procedures have changed that much – if any – since I stopped doing business in China. President Trump is correct in saying that tariffs could be an additional revenue source for the United States Government. However, in my opinion he is wrong when he claims those revenue streams will come at the expense of foreign vendors and/or countries. Any new tariffs assessed will be paid by US companies and consumers. It will be – in effect – an additional sales tax. Or as I would term it – a “Tariff Tax!”
I truly enjoyed my time doing business in China and my many trips there as well. It is an extremely beautiful country with wonderful people. I was fortunate to be able to travel around a great amount of area within the country. Most of our factories – or additional vendors we visited – tended to be outside of major metropolitan areas. In most cases – I was the only person who was not Chinese. Almost every place we visited – I felt most welcomed and never felt threatened for my safety. My business association came to an end due to policy changes by both the US and Chinese governments. I cherish my memories and am sad that I will probably never set foot in China again.
We had an office in Shenzhen – staffed with twenty personnel at the height of our business successes. It took me two years to find a manager that was a good fit. He took the English name of David. When I first met him – he was making USD 1,000/month. I told him that I would guarantee him USD 2,000/month plus a commission on each container shipped. To begin, I applied the container commission towards his draw. When that commission – exceeded his monthly draw – he got that additional commission. Over the course of our business together – I paid him a little under USD 400,000. I know that I probably could have paid him less – and he still would have worked with me – but I wanted to treat him as if he was working for me in the United States.
I am perplexed by the current situation between the US and China. I recently reconnected with my manager, and he sent me a photo of himself and his daughter. He is truly a gifted individual – having graduated from college with a degree in both Chemical Engineering and International Business. I told him that I consider him the son that I never had and wish the climate was different between our two countries – he agreed.
