They use it to get around EU customs and tariffs, dunno how but it works.
The other thing is that customers buying high end items care about where it was made, so you need to inform them. (Passing off the bikes as being manufactured in Japan but in fact the frame was made in China, would be a big blunder.)
It could be cheaper? Could also be more expensive as well.
In any case, if too many people play that game, then it only raises the tariff on Japan. I wouldn't assume these tariffs are fixed. They seem to be tied to trade deficit. So..
yeah.
No real way around them over time.
Might even piss the US government off if you try that. Which is kind of like playing with fire right now. It's not clear to me that this administration believes in rule of law in the strict sense that everyone adhered to in the past.
Strange days ahead.
That was my point.
> It could be cheaper?
Why would it be cheaper? Wouldn't they do that without tariffs?
I'm trying to figure out what the real story is.
When I read this I wonder if everything is a negotiating tactic:
"Trading partners have repeatedly blocked multilateral and plurilateral solutions, including in the context of new rounds of tariff negotiations and efforts to discipline non-tariff barriers."
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/regu... (wow, long url)