What happened when customers could choose between Chinese and USA-made products: Shocking results

The fall-out from President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs continues, despite the White House now rowing back on the majority of the proposed levies.

It has started a new conversation about manufacturing in the United States and how reliant the nation has become on other nations for products. The tariffs were supposed to incentive US producers to make more but it’s not clear if the rather chaotic approach will have the desired effect.

It is certainly true that cheaper, overseas products are often the more attractive option for shoppers in the US. For all the talk of wanting to support American industries it’s often the bottom line that pushes consumers to make a purchase.

To test out the importance on those ‘Made in the USA’ labels, shower head salesman Ramon van Meer began a little test of his own. He offered two options to his customers: an imported shower head for $129 and a US-made version that cost an extra $100.

Buyers often talk about wanting to support US-made goods, but did they actually do so when given the chance? Unsurprisingly, in the two-week experiment period Van Meer had around 600 orders for the imported, cheap shower head and none for the costlier American model. Not a single shopper chose to pay may to support US industries.

“I was surprised, and not surprised,” Van Meer said. “I was expecting the cheaper, Made-in-Asia to quote-unquote ‘win.’ But I was not expecting that the results were this off balance. We sold zero ‘Made in the USA’ versions.”

So does that mean that Trump’s tariff plan is doomed to failure? Well, maybe not. The shower head experiment suggests that customers are ultimately motivated by price, particularly with less glamorous everyday purchases. With that in mind, Americans could be swayed if Trump’s policies manage to level the playing field and eliminate the price difference between US-made and overseas-produced products.

But given the vast price disparity currently in place between the two, customers would have to see enormous increases in prices before the imported goods reach the same price.

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