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CalgaryJim
·I’m putting Switzerland on my invasion list but I’m still working on my plans for Canada.
Hey you 'muricans ... get those Swiss watches pronto
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CalgaryJim
·Would it surprise you to hear the average sales tax in the USA (the total per state divided by 50) is 7.1%? So the EU, Switzerland and the UK have a roughly 13-15% higher sales tax take which also applies to local businesses so is in no way discriminating solely against US or Intenational interests. To call VAT or sales tax or whatever you call it a one way or unfair tax is at best political posturing, at worst stupidity. I don't level this slur at you, but at the idiots currently rolling the dice and laughing at the random outcomes.
Time for another whisk(e)y. Shame you guys wont be able to afford that soon.
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reverbtime
·Saw this on Reddit, regarding used Omega's. I do see the used market having a bit more demand.
"Potential scarcity of product and higher entry cost from AD/Boutiques means people will turn to the used market. Less product and higher demand in used market = higher prices 😀"
"Potential scarcity of product and higher entry cost from AD/Boutiques means people will turn to the used market. Less product and higher demand in used market = higher prices 😀"
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CalgaryJim
·That’s heartbreaking. Sorry to hear mate.
Deleted a couple of purely political posts, we can’t avoid tariff discussion really as it’s relevant to know what’s going on, I’m still trying to work out if it applies to vintage watches shipped from here as I’ve got two I’m planning on letting go later this year. Not sure if it applies at all to used goods, and if it comes from Australia but is Swiss, does it get 10% or 31%.
Incidentally from an actual transaction perspective, if anyone from the US buys from oversees and does get hit with a bill, that will be on you and not something to blame the seller for. The same has always applied to Europeans and VAT or Australians and GST, the importer pays and can’t really complain about it after the fact as you’re expected to know your own country’s rules.
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Archer
··Omega Qualified WatchmakerThe inequities in the trade relationship between the US and other countries is well documented.
I did see a breakdown on a per capita basis not long ago - US consumers buy something around $1,200/year of Canadian goods. Canadian consumers buy something like $9,000/year of US goods. And somehow we are the bad guys?
Again if you count services, the US has a trade surplus with Canada that is on top of those physical goods...
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Archer
··Omega Qualified WatchmakerTrump will start to notice pretty soon. Canadians are stopping travel to the US in great amounts such that airlines are dropping flights to US destinations. I am implementing my own travel embargo and so are most Canucks that I speak with. One friend is also selling his Florida condo, and I hear he is not alone. Of course he will say we are nasty and the services imbalance is huge in Canada's favour.
Sorry folks, but no US OF purchases for me until this gets resolved.
Maybe Canadians will be able to buy a new Omega for significantly less that Americans. 👍
I've turned away all US based customers, and will do so until all this stops.
Immigration lawyers here are recommending that people entering the US from Canada use a burner phone to avoid US customs and immigration from snooping in their devices when crossing the border...
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texasmade
·Looks like VW is stopping all shipments from Germany, Canada, and Mexico to the US. Not surprised about this.
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Dan S
·Interesting article on how the "reciprocal tariffs" were calculated. Apparently the percentage associated with supposed "tariff" charged by other countries on the US actually has nothing to do with tariffs, it's simply the trade imbalance from that country. And if the imbalance is less than 10% (or negative), the tariff was still set at 10%.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/how-trump-came-up-with-his-reciprocal-tariff-formula-145530164.html
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/how-trump-came-up-with-his-reciprocal-tariff-formula-145530164.html
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watcholone
·The analysts of the swiss bank «Zürcher Kantonalbank» wrote today that swiss watches will be 10 to 13% more expensive in the US due to the new tariffs. So not the full 31%...
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ErichPryde
·Interesting article on how the "reciprocal tariffs" were calculated. Apparently the percentage associated with supposed "tariff" charged by other countries on the US actually has nothing to do with tariffs, it's simply the trade imbalance from that country. And if the imbalance is less than 10% (or negative), the tariff was still set at 10%.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/how-trump-came-up-with-his-reciprocal-tariff-formula-145530164.html
Yes, the amounts we are supposedly being tariffed by other countries is an outright fabrication. It's absurd. I genuinely hope that everyone comes to understand that these numbers aren't a real representation of what we are being tariffed by other countries.
Edited:
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fiberguy
·I genuinely hope that everyone comes to understand that these numbers aren't a real representation of what we are being tariffed by other countries.
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Walrus
·K karl42Since this is a watch forum I think it's best to avoid getting too political (the rolex forum seems to be banning discussion of the tarriffs at all), but I certainly am not at all surprised at any of this, including the tariffs. I even stocked up on champagne after the election, since I figured tariffs were on the way. This was a campaign promise.
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ErichPryde
·Wishful thinking ...
Well, there certainly a lot of people that don't seem to have any issue with huge amounts of already blatant dishonesty, so I'm hoping that at some point something will cause a shift in understanding.
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ErichPryde
·That rule “no politics” went off somewhere but whatever.
These tariffs are.... bad policy that impact many members here regardless of the country they live in. It's a tough topic to navigate, but to a very large degree a trade war goes beyond politics.
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Dan S
·Yes, the amounts we are supposedly being tariffed by other countries is an outright fabrication. It's absurd. I genuinely hope that everyone comes to understand that these numbers aren't a real representation of what we are being tariffed by other countries.
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Foo2rama
··Nowhere near as grumpy as he used to be...All I know is my 401k is hemorrhaging and my portfolio dropped 6% in after hours trading.
This doesn’t feel like winning.
Also the Americans thinking we don’t have basically the same thing as VAT are kinda funny.
*yes sales tax is lower, but it’s collected at multiple steps in the process of bringing goods to market, where as VAT is only at consumer point of sale, which tends to equalize the burden to the consumer.
This doesn’t feel like winning.
Also the Americans thinking we don’t have basically the same thing as VAT are kinda funny.
*yes sales tax is lower, but it’s collected at multiple steps in the process of bringing goods to market, where as VAT is only at consumer point of sale, which tends to equalize the burden to the consumer.
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ErichPryde
·I would assume that some of the big numbers associated with very poor countries have little to do with tariffs, but the fact that low wages leads to cheap goods, e.g. clothing from Cambodia. And because the country is so poor, there's little hope that they will import much from the US to reduce the imbalance.
I was going to throw a joke in there about the islands completely populated by penguins, but...
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Walrus
·These tariffs are.... bad policy that impact many members here regardless of the country they live in. It's a tough topic to navigate, but to a very large degree a trade war goes beyond politics.
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Archer
··Omega Qualified WatchmakerCan you elaborate on why?
1 - tariffs - there's enough uncertainty about what gets charged on what that I don't want to deal with it at all. On the US side, I don't want my customers to be unfairly hit with some arbitrary charge that they were not expecting. On my side, I don't want to be hit for importing something from the US by whatever our reciprocal tariffs might end up being. To get a bit into the weeds, if I get charged on an incoming watch for repairs, it's always just the taxes, and basically never duties. Since I collect taxes anyway on my Canadian customers and have to remit them to the government each year, I simply deduct what I've paid on incoming international shipments from that total (well my accountant does, anyway) so I'm not "out" that money, at least not permanently. For any potential tariffs I would have to eat those, and I'm not prepared to do that. So these are essentially the business reasons.
2 - the other reason, which I won't say a lot about because it's political, but it's a matter of principle. I think it might be difficult for people in the US to truly understand how much this has changed the relationship between the US and Canada on a very visceral and individual level, so to speak. I doubt we will ever go back to the way things were...
I've turned down many US watches already, and for the most part the people asking me understand my reasoning, even if they are disappointed. I make it clear it's nothing personal, and they get it.
