That's it.

I'm not conversant in shipping/trucking.

Seemed like a good hard worker.
White kid, maybe 30 yrs old, driving his work pickup,
Pool service, at a nice relatively newly built house.

Unusual because most pool service workers now days are minorities,
Mostly Hispanic

I stopped and chatted a bit with him.

Unfortunately he was a MAGA person,
But our chat remained friendly, not confrontation at all.

Before I walked away, I warned him Trump was going to screw him
financially Big Time, and that the working class would be hit the hardest
by Trump.

I said if I see you again in a couple months I will stop and chat again.
And told him Trump was lying to him

when instead, so much comes out of China, and not much from the US inhouse. It takes time to regear factories in the US to make gadgets and whatnot, the economy doesn't turn on a dime. So I expect shortages for perhaps 6 months to 1 year minimum, then the food chains/manufacturers will retool/revamp/open new facilities to manufacture new goodies for the retail markets. Big issue is getting the raw materials though, how much of these are covered by the stupid 'sleepy don' tariffs?

Business can't make money after they've built the factories and started having to pay US wages. The reason China became a manufacturing powerhouse is because they have all that cheap labor.

wages needed (and associated higher cost of living in these areas), that is, people must be able to afford living in these areas if they're going to work in these states/areas.

But other things kick in too, the availability of raw materials, transportation modes available in areas, the availability of labor (not just cheap but in quantities they need), schooling, and the other vast amounts of things society as a whole requires, for their workers who come to work at these places.

And the thing about imports from China and other such places...they're a long way off, disruptions to supply lines can easily occur (the longer the route is to the US, the more possibility of disruptions, etc.).

And cheap labor isn't exactly the panacea that everyone thinks it is. Highly trained workers who make fewer mistakes and output more goods per hour can make or break a business. As a matter of fact, those businesses who offer more job benefits such as 401Ks and other perks to their workers find that their productivity is way up. In short, a happy worker is a good worker.

The big crime syndicates will find a way to profit from this......

m

I think human behavior leans towards hoarding, especially in times of scarcity. Once the shelves empty, I won't be surprised to see grocery store shelves empty as well, as folks can't quite discern between availability of food and availability of other consumer goods. I think some of that fear may be justified - packaging relies on some imports whether it is parts for machines or just general packaging.

I've stocked up just to avoid the rush. Yes, I've stocked up on food. My weekly spend at the grocery in May (for example) could be avoided completely if necessary, but it's also set up to just buy fruit, veg and dairy. If those become unavailable, I have options.

I've also stocked up on some more random items, like filters for my furnace's air purifier and fridge filters. I suspect those are made in China and even if not, it is likely that some of the material is. Some of those are expensive enough that I'm okay with stocking up a couple of years of those. My furnace filter, for example, is over $100 each, but that saves me money by buying it myself as the HVAC company charges another 50%. The issue is that it comes in a box of 2, so I have to shell out $200 to get a filter. I'm sitting on 3 years worth now. They'll get used though, and they don't go bad. Worst case, I have less storage room. Best case, I ride out the price increase for a couple of years.

I've also stocked up on commonly used personal care products - like dh's razor blades, extra toothbrushes, our fav shampoo/conditioner. Those all have plastic in them, and I'm a bit wary of anything with packaging (which I admit - is a LOT of stuff) and just want to make sure I beefed up my supply of those.

And all who enable this monster need to be arrested and prosecuted. We need to make the Nuremburg trials look like a practice run.