It is not all cost. A few years back, B&S production was sold out for a year and a half and left many Chassis OEM's hunting for engines. In the years along that time, seeing a market to fill, many new options sprang up and China was a major filler of the holes in needed production. They gradually became almost exclusive supplier to many lines, co branding the engines and supplying the parts thru the Chassis OEM's in many cases such as MTD, Toro. and others. Hardly any OEM was void of China's engines somewhere in the product line. Today, parts for these have become a little better to obtain, warranty if not by the OEM of the Chassis is almost non-existent, manuals the same, but at least most have IPL! Living thru this period has been painful for an "open" repair shop who will fix what Ahe can get in the shop doors. Hopefully, the future of this market will rebound. After all, B&S was the market maker and richest company in the market for decades and now has gone bankrupt. In all the US markets, I think this market has had the most negative impact by China, except maybe the unseen such as Farm land. What I fear next is our citizens looking down on Chinese persons, who for the most part had little choice in the matter of China's overtaking of the US.
