Wednesday at a Tulsa Regional Chamber event, a group of manufacturing representatives spent about 40 minutes discussing the impacts of tariffs announced this year by U.S. President Donald Trump.

In large part, the employers preached patience.

“The most important thing to remember is Kenco comes first,” said David Ragland, president of Kenco Engineering. “Our reputation in the field matters more than anything else.

“These tariffs may be in place for four years, but Kenco’s been around since the ‘50s, and we’re not going to let this impact the way that we go to market and the quality and customer service that Kenco represents.”

The meeting was sponsored by JMARK. Ragland was part of a panel discussion at the Chamber’s Manufacturers’ Council meeting at the offices of Muncie Power Products in Tulsa.

Manufacturers’ Council Vice Chair Alan Jones moderated the talk, which, besides Ragland, included Brian Miller, president of Midwest Precision, Inc., and Skyler Ismael, assistant supply chain manager at Muncie Power Products.

A tariff is a tax a government imposes on companies that import goods from other countries.

“A price increase could result in our customers seeking other sources, and we are not willing to give them justification to look elsewhere,” Ragland said. “Let the competition overreact, but we’re not going to. We’re going to be patient, and we’re not going to make hasty decisions.”

The dialogue also touched on how tariffs are affecting supply chain and profit structure.

“COVID was a wake-up call for us, guys,” Miller said. “This is COVID 2.0, in my opinion. We’re all uncertain. We’ve not seen this before, and we have people at the top who are saying, `No, it’s going to be great.’ That was what happened during COVID, too.

“I think it will eventually be fine. Today, it’s uncertain. It’s scary.”

The United States and China recently made a point-for-point mutual reduction in their respective tariff rates for an initial period of 90 days, bringing rates down to near the same levels that prevailed before the escalation. This reduction of 115 percentage points lowers the U.S. tariff rate on Chinese imports to 30 percent and 10 percent on U.S. goods flowing the other way.

Four years ago, Muncie developed a strategic sourcing plan that sought trading partners outside China, in countries such as India and Taiwan, Ishmael said.

But the panelists agreed that China’s manufacturing muscles remain strong. In particular, Ragland vouched for the quality of Chinese die castings and investment castings.

“They build communities around these foundries, and so their performance is really good,” he said. “Even some of our U.S. foundries just can’t match the performance of some of these foundries in China.

“They really have their act together when it comes to castings.”

Miller said in 2015 he accompanied a manufacturing group that toured five Chinese manufacturing facilities, four of which were “as good or better than my facility.

“We are competing against professionals,” Miller said. “As far as sheet metal fabrications and castings and machining, they are keeping up. So, we do have a fight, especially when they are doing it cheaper.

“I can really appreciate the made-in-the-U.S. mentality. Unfortunately, the infrastructure is not completely there, yet.”