Lara GuevaraSupply Chain expert (Product and Service)

Leaving China? It Might Cost You More.

19 Nov 2025 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:10

A short YouTube monologue arguing that rapidly moving manufacturing out of China can increase costs and timelines substantially. The speaker quantifies typical increases (product costs rising ~20–40%), highlights drivers (higher raw material and packaging costs, increased tooling fees, longer lead times, larger MOQs, rework, less efficient shipping), and cautions that fleeing China without strategy can destroy margins.

Questions this video answers

30 to 40% more

25%, sometimes even 104%

20 to 30%

Two to four times longer

Chapters

Tariffs are brutal, but leaving China too fast can cost you 30 to 40% more. Let's break that down. A lot of founders say tariffs are 25%, sometimes even 104%. We should move out of China. I get it. Tariffs hurt. But here's what most don't calculate when you move to another country. Raw materials cost more. Packaging is imported, usually from China. Tooling fees are higher. Lead times double or triple. MOQs increase quality issues. Rework cost. It's higher. Shipping routes are less efficient with higher freight. Suddenly your product cost jumps 20 to 30%, your timeline gets two to four times longer, and you still might pay tariffs from that new country. So you escape a 25% tariff by paying 35 to 40% more somewhere else. So no, you're not crazy for being frustrated. China is getting more expensive. But abandoning China without strategy? That's how margins die.