The Energon Pub

by **megatran** » Wed Jun 11, 2025 10:46 pm

Emerje wrote:Well, Trump says his deal with China is done and it so far looks like a terrible deal for us.

US gets-
55% tariff on imports (up from 30%)
Mineral rights from China

China gets-
10% tariff on imports from the USA
Chinese students can attend US universities again

So basically things are even worse for US consumers and China gets a great deal on imports and education. Yes, Chinese factories will hurt from this, but there's still no sign of alternatives to Chinese manufacturing for US consumers. Great deal for US billionaires who not only get to sell to China at a low tax rate but also get access to rare minerals to make the stuff they're selling there. But this deal seriously screw average Americans. It's also been pointed out that these minerals come from the notorious western region of Xinjiang known for their prison and slave labor mining. Republicans that are wrongly claiming Chinese factories are sweatshops as an excuse to move manufacturing out of China should be outraged over this, but they wont be since it's Trump's plan and he doesn't care so why should they?

Emerje

On another US Transformers fansite (which I won't name), you will get an automatic ban just mere mentioning the T word(s). Glad we can have a mature discussion here, including posting factual news updates.

There are no winners in a trade/tariff war for the ordinary folks.

I'm not even from the US, but I've been asked by my work to look at alternative supply arrangements (secondary & tertiary suppliers) as assurance of supply strategy should preferred suppliers go bust for whatever reason. I already have a full workload thankyou very much.

News Credits: 101 · by **-Kanrabat-** » Thu Jun 12, 2025 4:40 am

I work at a factory where we mainly use steel and aluminum to create and build our machines. At first, the Trump tariffs slowed our work to a crawl for a month or two. But my competent boss found some work-around and now, we are so swamped with work, we have trouble to keep up!

So, if people know what they are doing, I'm sure everything will balance itself out.

MyFigureCollection.net collection · by **Emerje** » Mon Jun 16, 2025 4:32 am

-Kanrabat- wrote:I work at a factory where we mainly use steel and aluminum to create and build our machines. At first, the Trump tariffs slowed our work to a crawl for a month or two. But my competent boss found some work-around and now, we are so swamped with work, we have trouble to keep up!

So, if people know what they are doing, I'm sure everything will balance itself out.

Yeah, though right now it just sounds like companies are willing to move their factories from country to country as many times as it takes to avoid moving to the US. They seem to be banking on being able to outlast the Trump presidency.

Emerje

News Credits: 2 · by **Nemesis Destron** » Fri Jun 27, 2025 6:58 pm

I was looking at the art for this thread and credit to the person or persons for the depiction of Trump, I think (please be listening :HASBRO:

) the Powers should consider a type of Fans project/release like for Windblade and the creation of a figure based on the image for this thread and be a Terrorcon :-P

I feel.

Well this can only be a win/win situation for fans given current events and to have a figure representing/resembling Trump and the tariffs that affect us fans....'nuff said! :VEHI:

by **megatran** » Wed Jul 02, 2025 11:23 pm

Vietnam goods to the US to be slapped with 20% tariff. Many of Hasbro Transformers toys nowadays come from Vietnam.

Apologies if providing news that is factual, apolitical & on topic breaks the rules here. Another Transformers site that I won't name locked the thread as soon as it popped up.

by **megatran** » Thu Jul 17, 2025 11:16 pm

I was watching the news and it talked about inflation rising in the US. Toys, of all things, got a mention.

MyFigureCollection.net collection · by **Emerje** » Wed Jul 23, 2025 7:39 am

Some much needed good news just came in, though nothing is final and it's full of Trumps inability to give details when tweeting. It looks like Trump signed a deal where tariffs on Japanese imports will only be 15% (after threats of 25%) in exchange for Japan investing $550 billion (where? In what?) in the US and more US exports to Japan including automobiles and rice. Now don't get me wrong, it's 5% more than the 10% deal we had before, but since Trump is simple minded this sounds like he's sticking to his "blanket tariff" plan so things like car parts and steel imports will see a drop in tariffs. Hopefully details are good and we (or I) aren't getting excited over nothing.

Emerje

MyFigureCollection.net collection · by **Emerje** » Tue Aug 26, 2025 10:48 am

If you're an American and you've got any pre-orders coming out of Japan at the end of August, maybe 40th Selection Lio Convoy which was delayed to this month, well, you're going to be waiting a little longer. As of August 27 Japan Post is suspending all shipments to the United States. That includes EMS, parcel, small packet and everything else in between. This is on top of DHL also suspending shipments from most (all?) exporters in Japan, leaving really no options to get stuff out of Japan short of freight. And just to add insult to injury this administration has also brought an end to de minimis exemptions, the rule that prevented duties on imports for personal use totaling less than $800 from all countries as of August 28. How that works out is not quite known, some say there's a $80 flat rate on all imports while others say it's 15% up to $80. This uncertainty is part of the reason why Japan Post is suspending deliveries in the first part.

Below is the statement from Japan Post as it appears in English on their website.

On July 30, 2025, the U.S. government issued an executive order titled “Termination of De Minimis Treatment for All Countries” regarding mail to the United States.

Under this executive order, starting August 29, 2025, mail containing goods imported for personal use (taxable mail) will no longer be eligible for duty-free treatment, and tariffs will be imposed. On August 15, 2025, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced new guidelines regarding the elimination of de minimis rules, which require that transport operators pay customs deposits to CBP and prepare customs declarations. The procedures that transport operators and postal operators in each country must follow to comply with these guidelines are not clear, however, making implementation difficult.

Therefore, starting August 27 (Wed.), in line with other national postal operators, we will temporarily suspend the acceptance of postal items (small packets, parcels, and EMS (goods)) to the United States that contain the following items:

Individual gifts with a content value exceeding 100 US dollars
Goods intended for sale for consumption

In addition, we will continue to accept letters, postcards, printed matter, EMS (documents), and postal items (small packets, parcels, and EMS (goods)) containing gifts between individuals with a value of less than US$100.

As an alternative to the above suspension of acceptance, our international courier service, UGX (U-Global Express), can handle shipments in compliance with U.S. customs regulations:

UGX (U-Global Express)

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your understanding.

The latest information on the status of international mail items to be sent to destination countries and regions can be found here.

This is going to put a big damper on Americans importing from Japan until things are sorted out. Let us know in the Seibertron Energon Pub forums if you're being affected by this.

by **megatran** » Tue Aug 26, 2025 11:24 pm

Australia Post is also suspending shipments to the US. For parcels with a value of above US$100.

Who is responsible for this mess?

News Credits: 101 · by **-Kanrabat-** » Wed Aug 27, 2025 5:37 am

Let's hope that the things sent from Canada won't be fuk'd.

News Credits: 650 · by **ScottyP** » Wed Aug 27, 2025 8:16 am

I don't understand why HLJ doesn't just turn FedEx and DHL shipping back on. I just finished out an order on Japan Rabbit using DHL. Yeah, I'll have to pay duty on it, that is the unfortunate reality of the policies put in place by the idiocracy running the US government.

MyFigureCollection.net collection · by **Emerje** » Wed Aug 27, 2025 11:23 am

ScottyP wrote:I don't understand why HLJ doesn't just turn FedEx and DHL shipping back on. I just finished out an order on Japan Rabbit using DHL. Yeah, I'll have to pay duty on it, that is the unfortunate reality of the policies put in place by the idiocracy running the US government.

From what I'm reading, and I may be completely wrong, the Trump administration expects the shipping companies to pay the tariffs up front and charge the receiver on arrival which they simply aren't set up to do at either end.

On August 15, 2025, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced new guidelines regarding the elimination of de minimis rules, which require that transport operators pay customs deposits to CBP and prepare customs declarations. The procedures that transport operators and postal operators in each country must follow to comply with these guidelines are not clear, however, making implementation difficult.

So in typical Trump fashion he's made an order and set a date without even an ounce of thought put into it so neither the shipping services nor the CBP have a clue what they're supposed to be doing, effectively putting the entire system in limbo. It's the exact same line of thought that demands American made products and food without actually building the factories and farms to do it first. He is not an intelligent man, he's reactionary, he doesn't think things through and why should he, he's a billionaire.

Emerje

News Credits: 650 · by **ScottyP** » Wed Aug 27, 2025 1:46 pm

DHL at least is equipped to charge the recipient for duty fees. They pay customs up front, then send you an email with an invoice, then you pay DHL the duty amount and a processing fee. I imagine FedEx is similarly capable. It's not like this is a brand new system for them, other countries have had import taxes and similar charges for a long time and DHL/FedEx are international couriers.

It is a big paradigm shift for USPS and the lack of clarity and preparedness is not at all a surprise, so other postal systems simply saying "nah, we're good" is understandable. When international trade policy is determined based on one idiot's whimsy, this kind of chaos is inevitable.

News Credits: 226 · by **Burn** » Wed Aug 27, 2025 2:35 pm

Not just Japan. A number of countries have made this move until they can get their systems updated and make sense of the ever changing policies.

by **megatran** » Wed Aug 27, 2025 11:00 pm

Burn wrote:Not just Japan. A number of countries have made this move until they can get their systems updated and make sense of the ever changing policies.

That's the problem. It's a moving target. Business & stock exchange hate uncertainty.

News Credits: 1 · by **Solrac333** » Thu Aug 28, 2025 8:16 am

Who knew that the man in charge right now would be the reason I would stop collecting Transformers because of his stupid policies?

by **megatran** » Thu Aug 28, 2025 11:18 pm

Solrac333 wrote:Who knew that the man in charge right now would be the reason I would stop collecting Transformers because of his stupid policies?

I'm gonna take a stab & say it's not Chris Cocks.

News Credits: 1642 · by **D-Maximal_Primal** » Fri Aug 29, 2025 12:05 pm

This is beyond annoying in so many ways, not just for our concerns here on our hobbies, but just in general. Costs should not be skyrocketing like this and availability should not be this hard.

News Credits: 226 · by **Burn** » Fri Aug 29, 2025 7:40 pm

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:This is beyond annoying in so many ways, not just for our concerns here on our hobbies, but just in general. Costs should not be skyrocketing like this and availability should not be this hard.

Welcome to the rest of the world.