they needed to de-risk their supply chain.
What Do We Do Now? From Mexico to China back to Mexico again?
The other day I went to an estate sale and to my surprise I found a brand-new boomerang. Until then, I had never realized I needed a boomerang--or how difficult it was to get them to boomerang. After trying for an hour to throw my new boomerang I quickly learned that it doesn't always come back like you want it to.
The conditions have to be just right.
This will likely be the case for Mexico and cast steel valves too. Although the answer of where the next best price will be found is not an easy one, Mexico has certainly emerged as a natural alternative due to geographic closeness and the (as-of-today) unchanged free-trade status.
The other option, which is almost impossible in terms of cast steel valves, would be for the U.S. to start making commodity castings here. The reason this is so unlikely is the same government which implemented tariffs to bring factories back to America also has much stricter environmental policies than the current 'lower cost' countries like China. During the decades of China's rise to dominance the country had relatively lax regulations which enabled them add casting facilities at a rate which would be impossible in the U.S which would face significant delays in permitting new foundries.
So, what do we say the next time a customer asks where the best price is to be found on cast steel valves? Like throwing a boomerang, it’s more complicated than it looks. The second it appears a country like India might have the advantage... boom, tariffs strike again.