First, dan m, a laborer at the Chery car company in China makes an average wage of just under $2 per hour, that is why we are losing manufacturing to Third World countries. This will not stop as corporations are only concerned with price and rightly so since Americans want everything cheaper and cheaper. China will never care about their workers or the environment so it is up to our governments to impose steep tarifs on imported products that don't follow the same standards as us, like OSHA and ASME and the EPA. In the case of a forklift made in China a good formula for a tarif would be to first take the difference in wages, $2 per hour in China compared to $30 per hour in the US including benefits. Take the difference, $28 per hour and times that by how many man hours go into production of the forklift. 300 man hours times $28 per hour = $8,400 tariff on each forklift imported. Take all this extra tariff money and invest it back into the American economy by lowering taxes so Americans have more money to spend on American made products.
As far as what I am looking for next year in the forklift industry: Crown's IC product and how that will shake up the dealership structure in the US because everyone know's Crown won't stand for dual dealerships.