Brian Van Vliet knows a thing or two about running an auto parts business.
Lynch Auto Parts had already been a Kingston staple for over 40 years when Van Vliet bought the uptown business on St. James Street with a partner in 1988. Over the decades following, their trade was brisk enough to require the purchase of an additional building, an increased square footage and a warehouse for stock.
But the turn of the century brought with it the rise of internet commerce, altering forever the walk-in and telephone-anchored model of transacting business. Some auto parts retailers, having moved online, hit upon the strategy of dispensing with brick-and-mortar storefronts entirely, buying in bulk from distributors and then shipping directly to customers from warehouses placed around the country.
This strategy left traditional retailers at a disadvantage.
“Whatever retail comes in the door, we take it with welcome arms of course,” says Van Vliet, “but the retail end has gone away a long time ago for us independents throughout the whole country. Maybe 85 percent of my business is actually in the wholesale garages to which we deliver.”
Besides mechanic’s garages, Lynch Auto Parts also contracts to supply the replacement parts required for the basic maintenance of the Ulster County fleet — primarily those vehicles operated by the central auto department, UCAT and the Department of Public Works.
Referring to online parts retailer RockAuto, Van Vliet finds the pricing at which they’re able to sell ridiculous. “They’re doing it at a very low gross profit because of the volume.”
Lynch Auto Parts also has to compete against what Van Vliet calls the big box stores — ubiquitous nation-wide auto part chains like Advanced Auto or AutoZone. That Lynch Auto Parts has lived on to sell another day is only due to a loyal customer base.
And now comes tariffs. This being Trump, by the time this article prints the president or his handlers could have walked back or increased the amounts, specified certain exceptions or exempted entire sectors. The administration’s inconsistency has been chalked up to negotiating tactics and strategy. What is known for sure is that on Tuesday, March 4, the Trump administration announced it had followed through on threats to impose a 25 percent tariff on goods imported from Canada and Mexico.
During his speech to congress, Trump explained his reasoning.
“Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again, and it’s happening and it will be happening rather quickly.”
Canada responded on Wednesday with its own 25 percent tariffs on products imported from the United States. Mexico had still not announced retaliatory tariffs by Friday.
“Just about all the parts that are on my shelf are made either in Canada or Mexico,” said Van Vliet. “And I’m wondering if he’s just trying to stir the pot. During his last presidency he would start trouble and then they’d start talking about it and work things out.”
Van Vliet also considered the explanation that the tariffs could be intended to protect American businesses from foreign competition. Or that tariffs could be intended to lure back off-shored businesses. Because they pay their workers less, factory operations based in Mexico enjoy lower overhead than their counterparts in the United States. The lower cost of manufacturing, derived from the depressed cost of labor, allows products imported from Mexico to undercut products manufactured in the United States. For this reason, some American companies have moved their factory operations across the border into Mexico to maintain their competitive edge, though American jobs are lost in the process.
“If they bring production back to the U.S, I don’t think these big companies are going to want to take a cut in their profits,” said Van Vliet. “I think it’s going to get more expensive, actually because once they bring it back to the U.S. the labor is going to cost them more. I believe they’ll have to raise their pricing because now their gross profit is going to shrink.”
Whatever the purpose, Van Vliet doubts that Americans will see more money in their wallets.
“No matter whether you’re buying from us independents throughout the country, or if you’re going to the AutoZone or Advance, I don’t think they’re going to get around it either, it’s definitely going to affect the consumer.”
Already targeted with 10 percent tariffs during Trump’s first term — which were left in place during Biden’s term — China has also received additional tariffs, bringing the total against that country’s exports to 20 percent. China has already responded by targeting United States imports with 15 percent tariffs on corn, cotton, chicken and wheat and 10 percent tariffs on pork, beef, dairy, fruits and vegetables, seafood and sorghum.
Distribution companies looking to sell the produce of American farmers in the Chinese market can expect a slowing of sales.
Over at the J&H Tire and Auto Center on Cornell Street in Midtown Kingston, customers and employees speculate openly about the new paradigm.
“Just gonna pass along higher numbers,” a mechanic says.
“Right? Where do you think all of our fucking brake oil and shit comes from?” answers another. “Even our wood. Logs come out of New York, they get shipped to Canada, they get processed, and then we got to buy them back in sheets.”
“Anheuser-Busch is gonna make out though,” a rotund truck-driver offers.
“They’re not even American anymore,” a gentleman with a moustache alleges. “They were bought by companies in Brazil and Amsterdam. They put our flag on the can, but it’s not an American beer anymore. Foreign-owned.”
The truck driver folds his arms. “Well, it’s not coming over the border,” he says. “They still brew it here.”
“What do you drink?” challenges the truck driver.
The man with the moustache shakes his head, admits he drinks Canadian beer. Labatt’s or Moosehead.
“Price of your beer is going up.”
Update: By the weekend, Trump had suspended the tariffs he had imposed on Tuesday against most goods from Canada and Mexico.
Calling his policy retreat “exemptions”, Trump warns the tariffs could return in full force on April 2nd, when he intends to consider the imposition of reciprocal tariffs on all U.S. trading partners worldwide.
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