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Re: Nippon Sharyo pulling out of USA- Why?
Author: BOB2
Date: 08-12-2018 - 08:15
Lack of a sufficient and sustainable US market for passenger rail vehicles has been a huge problem in attracting and maintaining rail passenger and transit equipment manufacture in the US.
Costly, ludicrous, and blatantly arbitrary and capricious "buy Anerica" requirements in Federal funding requirements, for products that American firms don't or won't even make and/or for clearly inferior and more costly American products, protected from real competition has been a problem in finding good transit equipment for fifty years of my career.
Better products from firms in a competitive worldwide "market" for rail and transit who have been willing to make a more significant investment to sell into the US market (like Siemens has done), may be another factor in this decision, but I doubt that this alone would so distort the market as to have much impact.
The timing of the Nippon Sharyo decision, from a firm which manufactures a product with critical inputs from many nations, is interesting. This is yet another international manufacturer that will also be affected by higher component and parts prices, resulting from the new Federal tax increases on those imported inputs (tariff's). This has also increased uncertainty in future investment decisions, with still more threatened new Federal taxes (tariff's), which have been shown to make firms less able to plan and thus to make profitable investments in the current US market.
SMART will still be able to buy these cars, they just won't create any American jobs, and will cost SMART, (and us taxpayers>>>) more money, for the same goods.
Oh well....?
Costly, ludicrous, and blatantly arbitrary and capricious "buy Anerica" requirements in Federal funding requirements, for products that American firms don't or won't even make and/or for clearly inferior and more costly American products, protected from real competition has been a problem in finding good transit equipment for fifty years of my career.
Better products from firms in a competitive worldwide "market" for rail and transit who have been willing to make a more significant investment to sell into the US market (like Siemens has done), may be another factor in this decision, but I doubt that this alone would so distort the market as to have much impact.
The timing of the Nippon Sharyo decision, from a firm which manufactures a product with critical inputs from many nations, is interesting. This is yet another international manufacturer that will also be affected by higher component and parts prices, resulting from the new Federal tax increases on those imported inputs (tariff's). This has also increased uncertainty in future investment decisions, with still more threatened new Federal taxes (tariff's), which have been shown to make firms less able to plan and thus to make profitable investments in the current US market.
SMART will still be able to buy these cars, they just won't create any American jobs, and will cost SMART, (and us taxpayers>>>) more money, for the same goods.
Oh well....?
