This is something thats going to have to play out to really see where this takes us.
Initially, as a domestic distributor, it sounds great for us. I like the idea of a level playing field. Hopefully this forces people to take a second and third take at domestic procurement.
The other side of the coin is that now for chinese companies to compete, they're going to have to lower their production costs to compensate for the lack of the tax rebate, which may result in even more issues with chinese products... and in the electronics field - even more counterfeiting.
Like always, there are two sides to every coin, but the potential here for american manufacturers, and distributors is interesting.
Thanks for the info AJ.

well we know now that those 100 dollar Nikes are going to double

do you think it's good thing or ?

As for the question regarding the nike prices. I can't say it will affect me personally because I can't tell you the last time I spent more than 50 dollars for a pair of sneakers as it stands now. (probably back in the late 80's when I was in high school and the Jordans first came out).
And I use Nike only as an example, because I know that I won't spend the money for them, when I can buy another brand for half the price, that is just as comfortable.
So is it a good or bad thing? I say, that IF this does affect pricing in that way it can be a bad thing for mom and dad, when junior is begging them for the new Lebron sneakers (or whomever is popular at the moment).
Obviously this is all speculative.

I am still curious as to the direct affect this is going to have on the electronics industry, if any.
Does anyone have any insight on this?

Agree with AJ, Vietnam seems to be seen as more & more competitive vs China. Increasing VAT will probably accelerate things a bit. For services, United Arab Emirates are going after India.... See article below.

http://www.esourcingforum.com/archives/2007/07/17/vietnam-and-uae-the-new-lccs-options/

AJ,

I’ve always heard of Vietnam as being a low cost country for textile but it seems that more & more industrial companies are turning to Vietnam as an alternative to China. What I’ve recently read about Vietnam reminds me of the discussions about China everybody had a few years ago (Should I make the move? Any quality issues? Who has already made the move? etc...) I believe that, when looking at price only, Vietnam may be more attractive than China but it may be more risky for some companies (see http://www.chinalawblog.com/2007/04/china_defeats_vietnam_in_sourc.html ). Again, it’s a matter of trade-off between cost & risks.

At the company I work for, we are still focusing on India and China as our primary Asian low cost countries because

• these are 2 countries where we have most of our Asian factories (compared to Vietnam) so we can use and leverage the same sources for both our local factories and the factories in the US or Europe
• we spent (and are still spending) time & energy to develop these suppliers and to improve our supply chain

Overall, when looking at low cost country sourcing, we also take into account some additional factors like reducing our exposure to currencies. As a global company, we’re trying to balance our sales and our purchases between Euro and US Dollar. For a long time, we’ve looked at Eastern Europe as an attractive low cost area for our factories in Western Europe. But more & more of these countries in Western Europe are joining the EU and will probably switch to the Euro so it’s becoming globally less attractive.