Safeguarding Your Plastic Manufacturing During a Trade War

The US and China and, in broader terms, the world finds itself in a trade war. Regardless of where your business sits on the manufacturing/logistics pipeline, from raw goods to finished products, you’ve already felt or are bracing for the impact. While this affects every industry, from produce to semiconductors, today we’re focusing on plastic manufacturing during a trade war, as well as the impact and steps you can take to safeguard your plastics supply chain during this conflict.

The Second US-China Trade War

Many veteran businesses bracing now are the same who, in the first Trump presidency, were also braced for the last US-China trade war. As we spoke about in 2019, the two reasons cited were IP infringement and a trade deficit—the latter of which is the primary cause of the 2025 tariffs. But this time, a US-China trade war has become a World Trade War as both targeted tariffs on all other nations and blanket tariffs on certain goods are both in effect. Everything costs more, supply chains are being strained, switched, and in some cases, broken in real time.

The Risks of Business as Usual During a Trade War

No one wants to change how they do business. You’ve got established supply chains that are the balance of cost, quality, and reliability that your business relies on to make products and turn a profit. But things are changing, and while it may not be for good, it’s going to be long enough to disrupt everything. Already, we’re seeing disruptions that are stopping products from hitting shelves (or at unsustainable markup), and if you’ve got a supply chain that includes a mold, raw plastics, and finished pieces, you’ve got too many links if it’s all outside the US.

Returning Home: Reshoring Back to the US

While the current administration’s tariffs seem to be changing from day to day or even hour to hour, some constants are at play. There is an incentive to shorten your logistics as much as possible, which means returning to the US—moving your parts, mold, and manufacturing out of China and back to the US of A. You need to:

• Shorten Your Supply Chains: Due to the constantly changing tariffs and other trade war actions, shortening your supply chains is vital. Getting your tool relocated to start injection molding closer to home is easier than you think.
• Invest in US Manufacturing: While you may have to increase costs domestically, you can turn these into strengths for your products. Avoiding the drawbacks of overseas manufacturing, the quality of your products can increase to counteract costs.
• Protect Your Products: Now more than ever, your products will need to be made of high-quality, US-sourced plastics. This, combined with the strengths of US manufacturing and IP protection, will give you products that can better weather uncertain economic times.

At Midstate Mold, we’ve already helped many US businesses transition over both for this trade war and for long-term success. We know the benefits of working with US manufacturers—we’ve been producing plastic injection molding and plastic injection parts since 1965, right here in Franklin, MA. It’s not just replacing Chinese manufacturers with US ones but also upgrading your product with high-quality plastics alongside Industry 4.0 robotics and AI. We’re ready to guide you through the process and supply you anywhere in the US. Contact us today to get started.