https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/giant-bikes-and-accessories-made-in-taiwan-prevented-from-entering-usa-based-on-forced-labour-allegations>US Customs and Border Protection has issued an order preventing all goods manufactured by the Giant Bicycle Company in Taiwan from being distributed and sold in the US, after finding what it says is "information that reasonably indicates forced labour".>The 'Withhold Release Order' applies to bikes, bike parts and accessories, says the CPB, and is effective immediately. Giant owns brands including Giant, Liv, Stages and Cadex.This seems like a pretty big deal
Could be a big deal... or it could just be a way for the current administration in the US to put trade pressure on Taiwan that doesn't touch TSMC.
>>2054586Trek and Scott get most of their mid-range to high-end frames manufactured by Giant. Giant's direct sale under their own brand to the U.S. only makes up like 8% of their revenue, but Trek-branded shipment are huge. Also, Trek would be more fucked than Giant since Giant can shift their capacity away from the U.S. to other countries, but Trek is a U.S.-based company most of whose sales are in the U.S. and most of their high-margin products come from Giant.
>>2054588Trek and Scott aren't even Americas only bike brands, brands like Santa Cruz have manufacturing facilities in Europe and Rivendell makes their frames in the USA with some components coming out of Japan, there's dozens more as well that I'm missingI also notice though that cheap ass bikes from big box stores like Walmart started outsourcing to India of all places.
>>2054603Pretty sure most Rivendells are made in Taiwan now
I thought child labor is based tho
>>2054611Yeah they don't actually care about child labor, someone in the admin asked for a suitcase full of cash, and someone in Taiwan erroneously assumed that there's still a coherent set of rules in place on the US side and figured it had to be a bluff
>>2054588A third or more of my store's (became a wrench monkey this year) volume is Trek so at first I was a bit worried - assuming your info is accurate/up to date, I myself can't substantiate - but most of the Trek product we sell is their Malaysia slop. I do know Giant sells manufacturing capacity to other brands but not sure about specific companies such as Trek.
