Table of Contents

• Intro: Why Tools Cost More Than They Should
• What Tariffs Are and How They Work
• How Tool Brands Are Affected
• Real-World Examples: Price Hikes You’ve Felt
• Who Actually Pays?
• What Brands Are Doing to Work Around Tariffs
• FAQ: Tariffs, Tools, and Trade
• Wrap-Up: What You Should Know Before You Buy

Let me start by saying, I’m actually on board with tariffs. This isn’t about politics for me. I believe tariffs are a long-term strategy, not a quick fix. They generate revenue, level the playing field, and most importantly, incentivize companies to bring manufacturing and jobs back to America. That matters more now than ever.

The problem is, most people don’t realize they’re paying tariff-driven price hikes every time they walk into Home Depot or click “Buy Now” online. These costs don’t always show up as a new tax on your receipt, but they’re baked into the price of the tools you use every day, especially those made overseas.

In this article, we’ll break down how tariffs work, how they’ve impacted tool pricing, and what brands are doing in response. We’ll also take a step back and look at why we ended up here in the first place and whether the pain we’re feeling now might actually lead to something better down the road.

Because this isn’t just about tools. It’s about jobs, leverage, national security, and possibly increasing American manufacturing volume.

At the most basic level, a tariff is a tax on imported goods. When a product comes into the U.S. from another country, the government can apply a tariff, usually a percentage of the item’s declared value. That extra cost gets paid at the point of entry, before the product ever hits store shelves.

So who pays the tariff? The importer. That might be a tool brand, a retailer like Home Depot, or a middleman distributor. But that’s just where the cost starts. What happens next is where things get interesting and where the ripple effect begins.

For example, let’s say the U.S. puts a 25% tariff on power tools coming from China. If a cordless drill costs $100 wholesale, the importer now pays $125 just to bring it in. From there, companies have a few choices:

• Eat the cost (and lose margin)
• Raise the price
• Find a new country to manufacture in, or import from
• Redesign the product to fit a different tariff code

Many brands do a mix of these things, but make no mistake, the cost gets passed down the chain. And when you stack tariffs on top of rising material costs, labor, shipping, and inflation, it’s easy to see why tool prices have been climbing fast over the past few years.

Tariffs aren’t new, and they’re not inherently bad. But in the global economy we’ve built, they disrupt everything from production schedules to product pricing, and tool buyers are caught right in the middle.

Like most companies, tool companies live and die by margins. When tariffs are imposed or increased, it puts pressure directly on their bottom line, and they have to decide fast how to respond.

Most do one of three things:

• Shift manufacturing to a different country (common choices: Vietnam, Mexico, India)
• Adjust the product itself to reclassify under a lower tariff code
• Raise prices or reduce features to protect profit margins

Big companies like TTI (Milwaukee, Ryobi, RIDGID), Stanley Black & Decker (DeWALT, Craftsman), and Makita have all had to make strategic moves over the last several years in response to U.S. tariffs, especially the ones targeting Chinese imports under Section 301.

Some companies moved fast and diversified their supply chains early. Others waited and paid the price. We've seen price hikes, slower product rollouts, and even sudden material changes to cut costs. Sometimes those changes are subtle (like a thinner plastic housing), but they’re real.

And it’s not just tool companies. Their suppliers, OEMs, packaging vendors, and distributors are all in the blast zone. Every step of the chain is recalculating costs, and that trickles down to what you and I pay at checkout.

You don’t need to read a trade report to know tool prices have gone up, you’ve seen it in the aisle.

Here are some examples of how tariffs and global cost pressure have made their way into your cart:

Cordless Combo Kits

• A basic Milwaukee M18 combo kit that sold for around $399 in 2019 now sits closer to $499–$549, depending on the retailer.  Yes, technology has changed over time, but material costs have also increased.
• That’s not all inflation, part of that bump is tied to tariffs on Chinese components, including chargers, motors, and even the plastic housings.

Battery Packs

• DeWALT FlexVolt batteries went from around $149 to $199+ in many markets over the past three years.
• Increased lithium costs, plus tariffs on imported battery cells, pushed those prices higher.  Add to that the increasing demand from EV's.

Toolboxes & Storage

• Even non-powered gear saw big hikes. A rolling tool chest that was $299 pre-COVID now runs $399 or more, especially if it’s imported.
• Tariffs on steel, aluminum, and assembled storage units have played a direct role.

Hand Tools & Accessories

• Items like pliers, bits, clamps, and levels have seen 10–25% jumps in price.
• Tariffs on finished tools from China, combined with higher shipping rates, drove those increases.

These are real numbers from the market and they’ve stuck. Even as raw material prices fluctuate and/or shipping stabilizes, tariff-related costs tend to stay baked into the price. Once that MSRP moves up, it rarely comes back down.

People love to argue that “the consumer always pays the tariff,” but it’s not that simple. In reality, everyone along the supply chain pays something, it’s just a matter of how much.

Let’s break it down.

When a tariff raises the import cost of a tool, the manufacturer, the brand, and the consumer all have choices to make. Imagine three companies reacting to a 25% tariff:

• Company A passes 100% of the cost to the consumer. Now that drill is 25% more expensive. The manufacturer and the company keep their margins intact but the product is suddenly less competitive.
• Company B decides to eat 20% of the tariff, passing 80% on to the buyer. The price is still higher, but it’s more palatable. They take a margin hit but hope to make it up in volume.
• Company C goes further: the manufacturer eats 20%, the brand eats another 20%, and the consumer pays the remaining 60%. Their product now looks cheaper than both A and B. They win more shelf space and sales, even if it hurts short-term profits.

It’s not always this clean, but that’s how capitalism plays out in the real world. Companies constantly adjust how much of the pain they absorb versus pass on based on pricing power, brand loyalty, and market competition.

So yes, the consumer pays some of it but not all of it. The manufacturer takes a hit, the retailer takes a hit, and the brand does damage control. It’s a cost triangle, and everyone feels the squeeze.

Tool companies aren’t just sitting back and absorbing higher costs. Over the past several years, they’ve been aggressively reworking their supply chains to avoid or reduce tariff exposure.

Here’s how they’re doing it:

Moving Manufacturing Out of China - The most common strategy. Brands like Milwaukee (TTI), DeWALT (SWK), and Makita have all shifted portions of their production to countries like:

• Vietnam, Mexico, Malaysia, India

This helps avoid Chinese-origin tariffs but brings its own set of challenges, new logistics, workforce ramp-up, and infrastructure investment.

Reclassifying Products - Some brands tweak product specs or packaging to reclassify under lower-tariff HTS codes. For example, altering a tool’s battery configuration or selling it as part of a combo kit may reduce the duty rate.

Assembling in the U.S. with Global Parts - You’ve seen this label: “Made in USA with global materials.” This allows companies to leverage domestic branding while sourcing cheaper components abroad. It’s a way to soften political pushback and build consumer trust without fully reshoring production.

Absorbing or Offsetting Costs - Some brands quietly take the margin hit, especially on bestsellers or high-volume SKUs. Others bundle accessories, run loyalty programs, or offer promotions to mask the price increase.

Bottom line: Tool companies are working overtime to keep pricing competitive without taking a full profit loss. But the more they chase workaround strategies, the more complicated and fragile the global tool supply chain becomes.

Look, nobody likes paying more for tools. Tariffs sting at the register, on the job site, and across the board. But we need to be honest about how we got here.

For decades, we chased cheap production, higher margins, and shareholder gains. We handed over entire industries to countries like China, and in doing so, we outsourced not just manufacturing but national security, jobs, and economic resilience. We let others build our tools, our chips, even our infrastructure components often at the cost of trade secrets, IP theft, and weakened supply chains.

And now we’re paying for it.

Tariffs aren’t a quick fix. They won’t reverse 30+ years of offshoring overnight. But they do raise revenue, and more importantly, they level the playing field so companies have more incentives to bring jobs back to the U.S.

Think about this: In the 1950s, one income could support a household. A home, a car, groceries, and a modest life. Today, most families need two full-time incomes just to stay afloat. Outsourcing isn’t the only reason, but it’s part of the picture. We hollowed out the middle class when we shipped out the jobs that built it.

It’s time to rethink what work means. If your reaction is, “Well, those jobs aren’t worth bringing back,” maybe the problem isn’t the job; it’s our attitude. There’s no such thing as a job that’s “beneath” us. And with automation and advanced manufacturing, bringing work back doesn’t just mean low-skilled labor; it means STEM, engineering, innovation, and growth.

We need to become more self-reliant. It won’t be fast, it won’t be cheap, and it won’t be comfortable. But if we want a strong future, it’s time to rebuild what we let slip away.