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When David Rashid took over U.S. auto parts maker Plews and Edelmann, the company was losing business to Chinese rival Qingdao Sansong. Both companies made power steering hoses, but Sansong supplied them to retailers at a much lower price.
Then, in 2018, the Trump administration came to the rescue of companies like Rashid’s, announcing tariffs on a range of Chinese goods, including some auto parts. Rashid had assumed those tariffs would eventually force Sunsong to raise prices, but somehow the company never did.
It was a mystery. And it prompted Rashid to take on a new role: amateur trade fraud investigator. How could his competitor, Sunsong, absorb the 25 percent tax without changing its prices? Why did Sunsong stop getting all its steering hoses from China and start getting them from Thailand?
On today’s show, we explore how tariffs work in theory… and how they work in practice. David Rashid is trying to figure out what he can do about it. The mission will involve international detectives, forensic chemists, and a friendship built on a shared love of hummus.
This episode was hosted by Keith Romer and Jeff Guo. It was produced by Emma Peaslee and edited by Molly Messick. Fact-checking was done by Sierra Juarez and design was done by Ko Takasugi-Czernowin. Alex Goldmark is Planet MoneyExecutive producer of
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Music: NPR Source Audio – “Virtual Machine,” “EAT,” and “Bassline Motion”
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