Let’s take a look to see how cordless power tool brands’ stock prices are moving in respond to recent announcements about new tariffs.
We’ll be looking at midday snapshots for Stanley Black & Decker, TTI, Makita, and Chervon.
All of the data is via Google overviews which says “intra-day data may be provided by ICE Data Services.” Prices are accurate as of the 4/8/25 timestamps in the screen captures.
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Except for Makita, these companies have multiple tool brands in their portfolios. See also: Tool Brands: Who Owns What? A Guide to Corporate Affiliations.
Note: 5 days figures compare today’s price to that of market opening on April 2, 2025, prior to that day’s announcements about new tariffs.
Stanley Black & Decker (Dewalt, Craftsman, MAC)
- SWK
- 5 days: down >24%
- 1 month: down >32%
- 6 months: down >46%
- 12 months: down >39%
Techtronic Industries (TTI: Milwaukee Tool, Ryobi, Hoover)
- TTNDY
- 5 days: down >33%
- 1 month: down >30%
- 6 months: down >36%
- 12 months: down >33%
Makita
- MKTAY
- 5 days: >22%
- 1 month: down >24%
- 6 months: down >22%
- 12 months: down >7%
Chervon Holdings (Skil, Flex, EGO)
- CHRHF
- 5 days: down >27%
- 1 month: down >33%
- 6 months: down ~14%
- 12 months: down >22%
Other Publicly Traded Tool Brands
I also checked on Snap-on, Husqvarna, and ITW.
Snap-on
- SNA
- 5 days: down >7%
- 1 month: down >8%
- 6 months: up ~9%
- 12 months: up ~6%
Husqvarna
- HSQVY
- 5 days: down >10%
- 1 month: down >26%
- 6 months: down >37%
- 12 months: down >48%
Illinois Tool Works (ITW: Paslode, Tapcon, GRK Fasteners, Teks)
- ITW
- 5 days: down >10%
- 1 month: down >7%
- 6 months: down >13%
- 12 months: down >15%
What Happened?
Earlier this year, many companies issued announcements or statements about if and how potential tariffs could affect them.
Stanley Black & Decker calculated the net impact that an additional tariff of 10% on products made in China would have on their bottom line. They also said that they expected to mitigate the impact of tariffs with supply chain and price adjustments.
A new 10% baseline tariff went into effect on April 5, 2025 with few exceptions, and higher tariffs are expected to go into effect for dozens of countries starting on April 9, 2025.
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From a White House press briefing today, a tariff rate of 104% on goods imported from China will go into effect tomorrow morning, April 9, 2025, at 12:01am.
As a reminder, tariffs are a tax paid to the government by buyers when products are imported into the country. In most cases, the buyer – such as a tool brand or retailer – will then pass along the cost to their customers.
I have not yet seen any statements about how cordless power tool brands plan to respond to the new tariff plan.
NOTE: Keep the comments section civil.
Hullaballoo
I work in the industry, but not for any of the companies named in the article. I am using a different name than usual for the sake of privacy.
We are in the process of renegotiating pricing with retailers. Everything is so uncertain, we are not planning any major moves or expanding our (limited) US production yet. If or when we get certainty, we plan to explore that. We have some inventory that was not affected, but in a couple of months, that will change.
We are pretty small and operate on tight margins. Anything north of 5% tariffs needs renegotiation and price adjustments. If the situation as of today (4/8/25, 2:45 PM Central) sticks, it’s reasonable to expect major price hikes – on the order of 10-25%, at least – in the next few months.
Stuart
Thank you, I appreciate the insights!
Micheal
CEO’s and Corporate business already are making lots of money. Instead of them lowering their expectations, they pass the fees onto those that cannot afford it. I am a City Council member, and every year these companies do the same thing. Any excuse to increase their profit margins. In the 1960’s a CEO made 500-600% the lowest worker. Today they are making 1000’s % more than the lowest worker. There is capitalism, and there is Greed. I hope Americans, wake up is see, much of what they consume is Wants, not Needs. Reduce the wasteful Purchases, that in up in all the Storage facilities across the country.
Wayne R.
Tariffs on Chinese production is scheduled to go to 104% tonight.
Is the concept simply that US companies will build new factories overnight to output products with heavily tariffed raw materials? And the robots to be installed there will just fall out of the trees?
The immigrant communities are being edged into quick self-deportation. Who’s going to do all the work building these places?
Is there even going to be food available by the end of the year?
Bill
In Florida, our state Legislature is working on changing child labor laws to help fill the void, so now children can pick up the slack. Problem solved. Sad but true.
Micheal
Just for the Record, the law for focused on those that are home schools and early graduates. You also need the schools superintendents permission. Statistics, show a decline of the mental health of teenagers, since these laws where passed. It is a dicey conversation. My City Lawyer has not yet read us in the the changes for SB918 14+, so I will reframe from comment, but it is there.
Stuart
Please try to stay focused on the topic.
Segueing into comments about immigration and food availability is going to lead to discussions that result in the comment section being closed.
Geoff
I am genuinely curious how to respond to this post without having it segue into politics. It seems like the responses are about future pricing, which (almost?) entirely depends on tariffs, a politically driven issue.
Stuart
As long as everyone is civil, respectful, mostly on-topic, and non-proselytizing, go for it. I provide warnings to establish boundaries, and will remove those that run afoul.
I added a warning in reply to Wayne’s comment not to censure them but to curtail replies that would refocus on immigration. I already had to remove a comment for way off-topic soapboxing.
The general “no politics” rule exists so as to promote civil discussion.
I like to think that we can talk about news topics and developments that affect the tool industry without debating the actual decisions made.
Here are some basic guidelines: i) be civil and respectful to others, ii) try to avoid straying from the topic, and iii) I don’t want to be able to confidently guess your political leanings.
Steven B
Most economists keep saying we need to build out the industrial capacity to deal with China’s declining demographics….even before “liberation day.”
So we need to build a lot of factories…housing for the new workers, repair infrastructure, etc….
Ironically, now the tools we need to get the job done just went up in price drastically.
If the goal is to increase American manufacturing…perhaps it would be smarter to have some exemptions on the tools needed to get to the desired goal?
G console
Or we could incentivize building out what we need here, rather than punishing everybody on the planet with policy that financially driving us into recession.
Luis
so true. Honestly there are some basic processes that are not worth pursuing. There are commodities that can’t pay the living wages of the US if brought here.
But more elaborate items with higher product margins might be the ticket.
Sam Greenfield
I’m nervous that we will see few items for sale on the market in general. I believe that some importers and manufacturers will simply ramp down production or stop imports entirely rather than having lower profit margins due to higher costs (tariffs) or less consumer demand because of higher prices.
Hullaballoo
Speaking for my own company, we will definitely ramp down production and stop imports for a while, at least. It will take time to coordinate new pricing, and there will certainly be less availability by the end of the year.
If you wanted to severely curtail the market, this would be a great way to do it.
Derek
Will be interesting to see how the possible currency fluctuations change the profitability of companies. Depending on where the parent company is located that could change which companies have better results depending on which way the currency exchange rates go.
Nathan
Should have happened years ago…
Meanwhile I’m in transportation and our stock is dropping too.
Every industry reliant on China and South Asia is going to get hammered. Is factories don’t sound so dumb now so the SBD.
S
Thanks for putting this together. Unfortunately, after the new high score announcement, and the false news on monday, it’s probably a little early to make very much of the current data.
An article on NPR today talked to an American clothing brand about the tariffs, who specified that many clothing brands are currently setting up(material purchasing/allotment, production contracts, etc) for fall and holiday seasons.
I bring this up because I believe most businesses, whether they’re selling clothes or power tools, likely have a similar overall production timeline. Which translates for consumers like us to mean that while rumblings and minor adjustments over the next 3 months are likely, the actual product adjustments–when the things being made at this moment hits the shelves– are most likely to coincide with the end of year holiday season. It also means that even if these tariffs only last 3 months, we’ll still be feeling the effects well into next year on many products. Which is going to have a very significant impact on the ever-critical Thanksgiving and Christmas season.
China’s stance is really interesting now, and as someone that enjoys standing up to bullies(even if it means giving myself the wedgie!), I can respect the stance they’ve taken.
Economically, many articles posted after China’s rebuttal to the original tariff are discussing that they’ve been working on becoming self-sufficient for some time, and appear to be chosing this moment to start testing their systems readiness. But they also note that china is one of the few countries established and large enough to even be in a position to consider taking on another global super power like this.
To the stock data, I find it interesting that many of the losses translate to a relatively consistent range in the $20-30 value loss over 12 months for many of the brands that have a current valuation above $40. Just an oddity in the data maybe.
Stuart
This is new territory for everyone. This could impact the 2025 holiday shopping season, but it’s too soon to predict. Brands and retailers were able to pull off a decent spread of deals and promos in 2020 and then again in 2021. Many will figure something out.
A few years ago new tariffs were imposed on steel tool boxes from specific countries. https://14cyiuhvcgv.com/what-will-happen-to-pricing-of-tool-chests-cabinets-combos-and-mobile-workbenches/%3C/a%3E Brands and retailers responded by increasing the size and weight of roller cabinets and tool chests.
There are no loopholes here, and I think the situation will be in flux for a while.
Wayne R.
“Has Trump cancelled Christmas? China’s decorations makers report no US orders”
https://www.reuters.com/world/has-trump-cancelled-christmas-chinas-decorations-makers-report-no-us-orders-2025-04-09/
Kingsley
From the other side of the pond in the UK I’m hoping there might be a brief firesale of Dewalt from China here as they stop shipments to the USA.
One problem with that is the 20V branding vs 18V, so maybe not.
UK prices for Dewalt are normally double what they are in the USA and the sort of deals you see in HD and lowes rarely happen here. so it would be a nice change.
I’m sure everything will just go up everywhere for everyone in time, such is the nature of protectionism.
Luis
nothing that a decal rework couldn’t fix. I mean, the chargers are already dual voltage so it’s only a product decal and packaging thing.
Michael
I’m interested to see how this plays out for SBD. As far as I know, they are the only manufacturer who has some US based production of power tools.
Stuart
Not anymore, and never in high volumes.
Milwaukee makes corded Sawzall saws here, and I think that’s it.
Curious
Doesn’t DeWalt/SBD have a “Built in the USA” initiative?
For example:
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK6nGSYs6Mg
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzxT9pVniPY
Stuart
They did. https://14cyiuhvcgv.com/dewalt-brushless-drill-building-and-factory-tour/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
They had limited capacity for assembly of very specific tools out of a distribution center. I believe it was the same facility that they shut down last year.
https://14cyiuhvcgv.com/stanley-black-decker-closing-facility-south-carolina-2024/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
They shut down another South Carolina facility a few months after that, citing “changes to its manufacturing and distribution network.”
SBD also failed to establish a new state of the art hand tools factory in Texas.
Even if they were still assembling tools here, the more sophisticated components, such as the brushless motor controls, were imported from overseas.
The Charlotte facility had 2 sides. On one side they were producing legacy brushed motor 18V tools. On the other they were assembling what seemed to be a fewer number of brushless tools. The 18V NiCad system was discontinued in 2021. https://14cyiuhvcgv.com/dewalt-18v-nicad-discontinued/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Casey
It blows my mind that Stanley didn’t plan better for this. Had they done any risk assessments at all, it would have been very clear that the risk of tariffs was moderately high. They should have at least retained what US manufacturing they had. But they, like Shop Vac, opted to ignore the risks and send more manufacturing overseas. It’s so short-sided.
I haven’t heard if their air compressors are still made in the US or not.
TomD
Finally! My portfolio of Big Red tools that I don’t really need but bought because they were on sale will finally pay dividends! It was an investment all along, honey!
mikedt
You post an article like this but then chastise any comment that brings up politics? What are you thinking?
Dbuck
I don’t think he chastised anyone, he simply asked to stay on topic. Bringing up the idea that the US won’t be able to build factories because all of the immigrants are being forced out doesn’t seem necessary on a post like this.
potato
I think its wishful thinking to think that you can discuss the nature of tariffs on commodities, where they are basically exclusively produced outside of the country, that is imposing tariffs under the veil of bringing back domestic production, without also discussing labor and workforces that would go into said production.
Its like trying to talk about eggs but forbidding discussion about chickens.
Stuart
No. It’s like talking about eggs, then chickens, and then someone comes in and says nobody needs chickens anyway because immitation turkey is better, and that chickens farms should not exist in the first place.
All of a sudden, there’s a heated argument about chicken vs imitation turkey in a post about eggs.
You might think this is far fetched, but it happens EVERY TIME the door is opened ajar.
Stuart
I have to make reminders about civility and topic focus because folks have already treated this as an invitation to opine about AI, immigration, women’s studies majors, capitalism, and American consumption culture, and similar.
Without boundaries things devolve real fast.
That am I thinking? That it’s unfortunate that I have to draw boundaries because some people will destroy all hopes of civil discourse.
If you see a warning, that’s my way of saying “here’s a boundary line.” If a statement falls a stone’s throw away? Okay. Without pointing out where the line is, someone will pick it up and chuck it into out of bounds territory and I’ll have to put on a moderation hat and I greatly dislike that.
Without warnings, things unravel quickly.
Or do you think this is the appropriate post for someone to comment about art and women’s studies majors being unnecessary? Yes, that was in a comment that I removed for being too off-topic.
If given the chance, some will rant about things like immigration. This isn’t the place for that.
If a commentor opens the door, and their comment is reasonable, I’m going to do my best to close that door. Why? Because I have seen the types of comments that follow.
Frank D.
Fortunately, as a DIY-er when it comes to tools, I pretty much have all the tools that I need. Just that the cost of materials for projects and goods is going up again, and I have a house to rebuild inside out + fully furnish; due to last year’s hurricanes.
The whole tariff war is plain old stupid, on any given front. Everything anybody needs to buy will cost more … and that’s beside the huge torpedo blow to our retirement accounts, job cuts, etc. People are going to limit spending. You try to do everything right, weather the bumps, we finally are back on track after covid; then comes a new administration and this needless tariff war.
Anyway. I don’t see any companies bringing any new factories to the US; all while their stocks are getting hammered and there is an incredible amount of uncertainty. Factories take years of planning and building; besides costing a fortunate. Maybe with a soft approach, some of that could have been stimulated. But with the approach of the past few weeks … companies will stay the course, hunker down, charge us more to cover the tariffs and will focus on selling outside the US.
Robert
Past history suggests the tariffs may indeed lead to more foreign factories being built here, though it would take time. In the mid to late 1970s, due to increasing Japanese car sales in the USA there was a wave of protectionism and trade restrictions. In the 1980s the Japanese car makers built car factories here. Of course they didn’t admit it was due to the pressure, you never admit the other negotiator’s tactics are working.
eddiesky
I just got some DXL (the Dewalt flooring nailer FITS!!!) from Acme Tools and realize that my setup needs the cart (handtruck) that is $190!!! I mean, I don’t need it but to have Toughsystem boxes that are heavy and portable, the handtruck would be best. Actually two of them. This tariffs is beyond comprehension and a fools failure. That means that those handtrucks will escalate up to $230. Which for two, thats almost $500!! Nope. Not gonna.
Yet, if stocks are low, and they say, buy low…
I don’t think Holidays are going to be cheery.
John
What the 104% tariff on Chinese goods means to retail pricing remains to be seen, but it will most certainly lead to a significant reduction in sales during the holiday season. Sale declines will be driven by a combination of higher prices and manufacturers reducing the amount of inventory they import from affected countries. Lower sales and increased margin pressure will leave brand owners with less incentive to re-shore those products. Not to mention that much of the supply chain infrastructure that supports power tool manufacturing would need to be re-shored as well. Injection molding, small motor manufacturing, hardware and many other components are all manufactured China. Would there be enough incentive to move these facilities as well? I think not.
Stuart
According to today’s news stories, most reciprocal tariffs are now on hold for 90 days, with the 10% tariff still standing, and the tariff for imports from China will be increased to 125%.
Adam Van
There has been some mixed messaging, but it looks like tarrifs on Mexico and Canada still remain too, they aren’t part of the 90 day hold.
So stuff like lumber, steel, aluminum, oil and cheap hydroelectric power.
Mike
I don’t work in the industry, I just buy tools occasionally for DIY. But I like to read others’ expertise on things like economics. The problem with the tariffs as they are:
1. They are vastly higher (by an order of magnitude) than anyone thought a month ago.
2. The way that they are implemented (you can find info on the “methodology” used to arrive at the numbers) scares the hell out of businesspeople – CEOs, investors, etc.
3. The fact that there’s no unified message from the administration – one person says there’s negotiation room in the tariffs, another says they’re not negotiating at all, and POTUS gives a different response – is the thing that’s scariest of all.
Business doesn’t like uncertainty. If they knew the tariffs were set, at least you can deal with that. But if the US retaliates to China’s retaliation, nobody knows what to do. Nobody can set pricing for six months from now, nobody can decide how much to order, blah blah blah. So price discussions now are just another vague look into a very cloudy future.
Especially since the administration is also talking about “charging port fees of as much as $1.5 million on Chinese-built cargo ships at every port of call. They aren’t based on the value of the cargo that’s offloaded at each port, either, so while a ship that drops all its cargo at the Port of Los Angeles would pay a single port fee, a ship planning to stop at multiple U.S. ports would be charged the same fee at each stop.” This could lead to serious supply chain issues – again. https://www.jalopnik.com/1829700/trump-tariffs-port-fees-potential-impact/
Hullaballoo
Your points are all valid. As of right this second, though, there’s word that the fees you mentioned may be rolled back or otherwise altered.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us-considers-adjusting-port-fee-plan-chinese-vessels-after-pushback-sources-say-2025-04-08/
The *constant* whiplash from the federal government is incredibly tiresome already. My company can’t get anything done or plan more than 2 days out it seems, and it’s entirely out of our control.
CMF
There are a lot of comments, which I could not read through all of them.
I know Dewalt for sure, then some of the others also have that American flag on most packaging stating something like “Assembled in the USA with Global Parts”…or something similar.
In the news they talk this & that but do not go into details.
Stuart, do you know if there is stipulation to what, content and how much (percentage?) needs to be made in the US?
Stuart
Tariffs don’t work that way; it’s not based on percentage of US production. They don’t care whether other parts are made here or the final product is assembled or finished here.
Let’s say $10,000 in toy motors and $10,000 in drill motors are imported from the same country. The toy motors are 80% of the final product and the drill motors are 20% of its respective product. That doesn’t matter, the tariff will be the same. $10,000 in power window motors that are 2% of the final product? Doesn’t matter, the same tariff applies.
Tariffs are a tax on imported goods, whether they’re components or finished products.
Details sometimes matter, but not with respect to how much of a final product is sourced from US suppliers or made at US facilities, at least not that I’ve seen.
CMF
I may have incorrectly asked my question.
Something made in the USA has no tariff. But is there a bar to pass to be considered made in the USA. I will use a hypothetical to clarify.
Take an impact driver. A new company comes out tomorrow and the state it is made in the USA, so no tariff.
The casing, the wiring, the switch, the anvil and and hammer system, all made in the USA (not realistic, but stay with me).
Everything broken down is made in the USA, eg…the switch. The plastics for the switch, the spring and whatever else they make in the USA.
Lets say the grease in the hammer assembly is made outside the USA, does this disqualify it, and thus gets a tariff.
This is just a crazy hypothetical, but how granular do they go in considering if it is MITUSA? Or, what I was trying to state above, is there a percentage of the contents that must be MITUSA to be tariff free?
I know that the feds do not check this, it is already verified by other departments that have been doing it for years, as to who and what can have MITUSA on their packaging?
Like a Wright wrench, so much simpler than all the various components in a power tool. The alloys in the metal, the chroming of the final product and so on, not a long list of MITUSA products to verify.
I hope this makes sense.
**** Metabo, some of their tools still are made in Germany. Granted, Germany probably has different rules than the US; probably every country has their own criteria on what qualifies as made in their country.
The agencies that determine this (because the Feds just look if it is, or is not MITUSA) in the US, do you know, or any of the reps you may have spoken with, know this?
So if Dewalt, Milwaukee or any other power tool MFR wants to say they are MITUSA do any of the reps say how far do they need to go? Yes I realize most of the global parts they use is not only because they cost less, but in many instances, the manufacturing of these components may no longer made in the US because the market disappeared.
Wow, talk about rambling on.
I am just trying to understand if :made in the US with global components, passes as no tariff. If not how deep does it go to not get tariffed.
Anyone who read all this without getting an aneurism, is a champ. I am basically asking Stuart, but anyone that knows the criteria, please chime in.
Above EDIT/clarification.
“Lets say the grease in the hammer assembly is made outside the USA, does this disqualify it, and thus gets a tariff”
Not the grease getting a tariff (it probably would) but the whole impact driver gets a tariff because in this case the grease…..or if not the grease, but just an LED, or some other miniscule item, not MITUSA, disqualifies the whole power tool from being tariff free?.
Hullaballoo
This page is probably helpful: https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/complying-made-usa-standard
The key is “substantial transformation”. If the hypothetical impact driver was built in the US from US-made parts, the US-made parts would not be subject to tariffs, nor would the final impact driver, since its last substantial transformation was in the US. However, any foreign parts would be subject to tariffs. So that would affect the final cost of the impact driver.
If the impact driver were assembled in Mexico, then shipped to the US for labels to be applied, then it would be subject to whatever tariffs were in force at the time of entry on Mexican goods, since adding labels in the US would very likely not be considered “substantial transformation”.
Part of the current set of problems is that foreign-made parts are heavily tariffed. So even if a company uses 50% US parts and 50% foreign parts to build its impact driver, if all the foreign parts are tariffed at 25%, that extra 25% tariff is going to be passed along as part of the final price of the impact driver, even though the final impact driver itself – having been substantially transformed in the US, and made with US and foreign parts – would not face a tariff.
This is what we’re seeing as part of the issue in the auto industry. Often, a part made in Detroit or Windsor is shipped back and forth across the bridge between Canada and the US a couple of times (e.g. cast in Canada, coated in the US, ground in Canada, etc.), and now, those parts face a tariff every single time they cross the border. Similar deal with manufacturing in Mexico. My understanding is that the USMCA was supposed to basically eliminate that.
Hope that all helps clarify.
Stuart
Generally speaking, nobody at customs cares about the final product or whether it qualifies as made in the USA or not.
Does a product, component, subcomponent, material, or any other physical item cross any border into the US with payment going to an external supplier? Then that product has been imported into the US.
There’s no “but I was going to use that in a product that qualifies as being made in the USA.” That doesn’t matter.
Think of it like a conditional sales tax.
Let’s talk sandwiches. A basic sandwich might have bread, mustard, meat, cheese.
The store might order:
i) Bread baked in USA from imported flour
– baker pays tariff on flour
ii)Cheese processed in USA from USA sourced ingredients
– no tariffs
iii) Mustard made in USA from USA sourced ingredients, and packaged in imported bottle
– tariff on bottle paid by the buyer before filling it with mustard
iv) Processed meat imported that’s made with USA-exported products
– tariff on processed meat paid by sandwich shop
In this example, the sandwich maker would pay some tariffs on ingredients they directly import in the US, and some of their suppliers would pay some tariffs on any ingredients and supplies they import into the US.
The increased cost of the mustard packaging, flour, and meat would all factor into the final product, with price increases ultimately passed on to the customer.
It doesn’t matter whether the sandwich can be advertised as being made in-house, what matters is where everything originated from.
In the case of the meat, it doesn’t matter that you can trace the raw ingredients back to the US. If the processed meat is imported into the country, a tariff would apply.
TN
I can understand the angle of tariffs and I think when you force companies (with the pain of tariffs) they will react much faster to change vs. incentivizing them with subsidies and tax breaks.
Could the U.S. win a trade war? Possibly, but not without a lot of hurt globally. U.S./Western society is such a hedonistic society versus the far east. He who controls demand, controls the game.
I have almost everything I need–but I’m lucky. If this tariff scenario escalates, I won’t feel angry… just pity. Pity for any new tradesperson/apprentice/homeowner eating the cost of geopolitical peacocking — the forever in our thoughts, but rarely ever be in our plan younger generations.
Stuart
It’s not that simple. Many companies have already said they either won’t or can’t bring production to the USA.
When Dewalt set up power tool assembly at a distribution warehouse, they said they brought equipment and personnel in from Mexico. More recently, SBD couldn’t successfully build a new US factory for hand tools.
According to news stories today, smartphones, computers and monitors, TVs, and “various electronic parts” are now exempt from the 145% tariff on imports from China, retroactive to last week before the new tariffs went into effect.
With the situation being so dynamic, I doubt any companies are seriously considering setting up new production in the USA right now.