Edit: This is not a thread on buying American products. I specifically called out non-Chinese, and the reason for that is military and political. Only one country on this planet could ever be a serious military and existential threat to the US in the next 50 years , and that is China.

From a recent thread, multiple members seem to be laboring under the misconception that it is impossible not to buy a majority of things/possessions/tools etc that do not originate from China.

I’m starting this thread to combat this perception, and am happy to help out or locate items that are not made in China if there are requests. There are certain items that are absolutely impossible not to source from China (iPhones, some electronics/gaming/computer parts, etc), but for the vast majority of items in the home, it is quite easy. These are the only general rules:

1. Non-Chinese items will generally be more expensive
2. As a trade-off for #1, non-Chinese items will normally have higher quality.
3. It is harder to find non-Chinese items (avoid your mall, it’s full of crap).
4. If it is impossible to source non-Chinese made, then exceptions will, of course, occur.

I’ll start with general categories:

Food/Beverage - if you buy anything made in China, then the rest of the thread is likely not for you! Incredibly easy to buy products made elsewhere, and China doesn’t have a strong alcohol tradition, so no worries there either.

Clothing - fairly easy. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia and the US/Mexico all produce clothing, it’s not hard at all to avoid China.

Shoes - a bit more difficult. For dress shoes, super easy; Allen Edmonds, many of the luxury European brands, etc are not made in China, cheaper can be hit or miss. Casual shoes are split, but sneakers can readily be found made in Vietnam (Nike/Adidas/Puma etc).

Tools - avoid Harbor Fright and big-box stores, buy once and cry once. Power tools can be found not made in China, but definitely damn near every hand tool can be found made in the US, Germany, Europe or worse case Taiwan.

Guns - don’t even bother asking…

Toys - Playmobil, Lego/Duplo, and there’s a billion other brands that aren’t made in China. Cheap shit from the dollar store or Wal-Mart will likely be made in China, buy less crap and have them enjoy good quality toys (I say this as a father).

Electronics - iPhones are made in China, Samsung phones are not. I do use an iPhone, and that’s ok; the point is to avoid China as much as possible, not live like a 12th century monk. To my knowledge, Xbox and PlayStations are made in China. I built my own PC, did my best but some components are still Chinese.

Appliances - small appliances it can be hard to avoid China (but doable, with exceptions), large appliances it’s startlingly easy (Kitchenaid, Bosch, Maytag etc).

Soft goods - bedding, towels, rugs etc. India and Turkey are dominant in this space, no reason to buy Chinese.

If I’m missing any categories, chime in and I’ll be happy to update. I can also give specific brands and products, and all of this stuff can be bought and shipped to your door, no time machine needed.

One last note: I believe, adjusting for inflation, that US and European goods have never been cheaper. There is near-zero reason to buy Chinese crap at this point.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: reloader-1,

Of course, always do your own homework, but this can help.
https://www.stillmadeinusa.com/

This topic was actually done on here a while ago.

Thanks for that link! Couldn’t remember exactly what it was…

And this thread is even broader, in that it is just designed to avoid China. There are entire categories of items that aren’t made in the USA anymore, but that doesn’t mean you have to default to buying Chinese. There are always alternatives.

quote:

Originally posted by reloader-1:
Tools - avoid Harbor Fright and big-box stores, buy once and cry once. Power tools can be found not made in China, but definitely damn near every hand tool can be found made in the US, Germany, Europe or worse case Taiwan.

I definitely do not consider Taiwan a "worst case". There are quality tool manufacturers there, and they are a big step up from their neighbor across the strait. Also, several of the quality German and Japanese tool companies are turning to Taiwan for some of their lines. I consider a Taiwan tool to be a very good mid-range quality tool, well finished of quality steel.

quote:

Originally posted by henryaz:

quote:

Originally posted by reloader-1:
Tools - avoid Harbor Fright and big-box stores, buy once and cry once. Power tools can be found not made in China, but definitely damn near every hand tool can be found made in the US, Germany, Europe or worse case Taiwan.

I definitely do not consider Taiwan a "worst case". There are quality tool manufacturers there, and they are a big step up from their neighbor across the strait. Also, several of the quality German and Japanese tool companies are turning to Taiwan for some of their lines. I consider a Taiwan tool to be a very good mid-range quality tool, well finished of quality steel.

To be fair, he said "worse case", not "worst". Big difference.

Have a bunch of Grizzly woodworking tools. A lot of their stuff is from China but they identify those items which are from Taiwan online and in their catalog.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
Of course, always do your own homework, but this can help.
https://www.stillmadeinusa.com/

This topic was actually done on here a while ago.

Not that we have any control over the references

McIntosh has not been held by a Chinese group for many years.

Its now owned by Highlander Group based in Dallas

Supposedly the Precision Matthews lathe I bought recently is 100% made in Taiwan. I also bought a wrecker's pry bar from Lowe's and chose the one made in Mexico. I try as hard as possible to avoid MIC products. Sometimes it can't be avoided.

Tony.

This has been my goal for a while so I've been looking at that pretty closely.
A concern is that many items contain content that is made in China but assembled here. Some go back much further than you might think.
A year ago I was having problems with an older (20 years or so that I bought new) Stihl weed trimmer and had narrowed it to the carburetor. I went on a search for a replacement and found a tremendous variation in the prices, but all were made in China, even OE.
I finally bought what appeared to be a reasonable quality part and then removed the old one to finish the repair. Right there stamped into the body of the original, Made in China.
The good news, it did fix the problem.

Found this:
Samsung actually shut down its last remaining smartphone factory in China this year. As of 2019, the company is not making any phones in the People’s Republic. It previously had two factories in China but as Samsung’s market share fell below 1% in the country, it had to scale back production. It no longer makes financial sense for Samsung to manufacture phones in China. Which is why it has now stopped doing that.

https://www.sammobile.com/wher...-samsung-phones-made

quote:

Originally posted by gjgalligan:
Found this:
Samsung actually shut down its last remaining smartphone factory in China this year. As of 2019, the company is not making any phones in the People’s Republic. It previously had two factories in China but as Samsung’s market share fell below 1% in the country, it had to scale back production. It no longer makes financial sense for Samsung to manufacture phones in China. Which is why it has now stopped doing that.

https://www.sammobile.com/wher...-samsung-phones-made

Goes on to say that many are made in Viet Nam, some folks would say almost the same thing as China.

Lots of companies are starting to see the light and trying to back out of there while they can get anything of value out.
The problem is that the physical facilities can't be moved out, the equipment also can't as a practical matter either. The Chinese government require something called an export license to do that and guess when you can get one of those? Right after hell freezes over.
Then there's the trained workers and intellectual property. Clearly the workers have whatever knowledge to do their job and the Chicoms have always been willing to steal the IP to knock off your particular product.

This process will take time and businesses and governments are only hoping that they can keep sliding out the back door to get most of this set up in other places before the Chinese cause a major market interruption.

Over the last 18 months I completely rebuilt my home stereo system... making a point to find pieces that were not made in China. There is some great hi-fi manufacturing quality in China so it was a challenge at times. In the end...

McIntosh- USA
VPI- USA
Salamander- USA
SurgeX- USA
RME DAC- Germany
Degritter- Estonia
Focal- France
Mogami- Japan
Aurender- Korea

only China piece
Audiolab CD transport (UK company manufactured in China)

I disagree strongly. Vietnam is nothing like China.

My tip is to not support vendors, like Amazon that pushed this shit on us at full force.

Whether it's made in China , Vietnam , or Mexico , it's still replacing U.S. workers . Singling out China does nothing to solve the problem .

MADE IS USA (by robots and Central Americans)

No I do go out of my way a lot more in recent years, often paying A LOT more for US made, or at least not Chinese products. But I do pick my battles.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
A concern is that many items contain content that is made in China but assembled here. Some go back much further than you might think.

Ding! ding! ding!
While many have pointed out that companies are moving their manufacturing away from China, what isn't spoken of is the raw goods/materials are produced in China, then shipped elsewhere for production/final assembly. The majority of textile mills- where they produce the yarn, whether its for apparel, outdoor equipment, coverings/awnings, upholstery, carpeting, is coming out of China. Fertilizer, chemical plants, raw plastic materials, the active ingredient for medications, the silica and other ingredients for glass manufacturing, aluminum, all the stabilizers and additives for foods, the chemicals for producing various plastics...all comes out of China. Final production/assembly is in Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, etc...

China has smartened up by moving their manufacturing base further up the supply chain and away from finished consumables towards high end goods: electronics, medical equipment, automotive, heavy equipment, ship building, along with raw goods production. All in-demand exportable goods that smaller countries with less infrastructure can't handle.

Not buying Chinese made goods is a good first step, make sure the owner of the shop/buyer hears your concerns, no need to be a jerk about it, just inform them. Next is pushing companies you like to have their manufacturing in the Western Hemisphere, and we're not just talking low-end items like t-shirts, socks and hats but, the majority of their goods away from Asia and over to this side of the pond; write them an email, fill their comments/review section with this point. Its been nearly two decades as SE Asian countries have taken on more finished goods production from China, those factories in those countries are still a reliant on Chinese-made materials. Pushing companies to develop factories in Central & South America can take the strain-off the transportation lead-times, and curb the criminal problems in those respective countries but shaping their economies.

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
Whether it's made in China , Vietnam , or Mexico , it's still replacing U.S. workers . Singling out China does nothing to solve the problem .

There’s a huge difference. Vietnam, or Mexico, or the Philippines are not in any way a near-peer adversary of the US. They simply do not have the population, economy and technical capability to wage global war against us.

China, does. Giving them a penny more than we absolutely have to will come back to us in the form of direct and indirect warfare. If I told you that your son or daughter, or grandkids, or friends etc etc would die in a future war with Germany, would you have bought a Mercedes in 1933? This is as close to a direct parallel as you will ever see in history.


- - - - -

I really appreciate how someone else pointed out that manufacturing in South America will eventually benefit the US as well. The more stable and prosperous those countries are, the better for us as well.

Here is a good thread from a couple years ago about items "Made in USA". (12 pages)

https://sigforum.com/eve/forum...935/m/1090088964/p/1

quote:

Originally posted by old dino:
Here is a good thread from a couple years ago about items "Made in USA". (12 pages)

https://sigforum.com/eve/forum...935/m/1090088964/p/1

Oh man, that thread cost me some coin, why'd you have to dredge it back up!