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EU introduces โฌ3 customs charge on small parcels to curb cheap Chinese imports
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 29 Jun 2026
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Awesome, show me a local manufacturer who deals with speciality electronics and sensors and does them โฌ3-4 apiece.
Not sure about manufacturers but DigiKey, Mouser, Jameco, MicroCenter, and McMaster-Carr are all decent options.
Most will tell you where something is manufactured. Some stuff is from China but they also have stuff from Taiwan, generally better quality in my experience. Some things you can find manufactured in EU or other western countries, but fabs don't exist everywhere for everything.
But at the very least these places are importing items in large quantities so it's still more eco-friendly than having individual nickle-dime stuff flown over entire oceans and continents.
Those are stores. Who also order the components from China, then add surcharges for having them locally available.
Most components on all listed sites will also be 2-3x more expensive than if ordered from manufacturer directly (unless mfg lists them on the site), at which point "buy European" simply becomes "pay 2-3x to a European company for doing what you could be doing on your own".
I mean most passive components will still run you about ten cents per. It's not like that's exorbitant. If you need to order a thousand of them you'll get a bulk discount.
My point was on the environmental aspect. These stores can import them in larger quantities, so it's less fuel consumption in transport than ordering smaller quantities that ship direct from China
Sure, for small components it's logical to go to them - or even to local electronics repair shops as they'll most likely have those parts.
But even Mouser, etc. rarely have the boards I need. For example right now I have a bit of development to do on e-ink integrated platforms. I have two product options: the Lilygo T5S3 Pro, or the M5Stack PaperS3. Mouser etc. will have these on backorder, 2-3 week lead time, and 50-70% more expensive than ordering from the mfg. Meanwhile I can deal with the mfg. and shipping with a much shorter lead time (often as little as 5 days!).
I mean if you can backtrace the specific product you need to the manufacturer and order directly from them, sure that makes sense. At least if you find the product on Mouser, you can be assured of its quality/safety (unless the manufacturer saves its duds for small orders)
What isn't wise would be browsing the Chinese e-commerce sites for the thing you need and then buying the cheapest one. It's kind of a gamble whether it works at all, or whether it burns your house down.
Did you ever wonder why these Chinese products are so cheap, and why they are not produced in Europe anymore? I think you should read up on this! First, the Chinese keep to Yuan artificially at a very low level. This is already unfair, and continues to boost their economy. Second, they subsidize most companies that export into other countries, to aggressively gain market share. Their workers work under poor conditions, and for that reason are cheap Labor (as you probably know, some are even slaves;-). So while you are happy to save a couple of bucks, people in the EU are loosing jobs and factories are closing down. I saw this happening with Japanese cars and electronics in the 70s and 80s. Whole industries disappeared.
95% of the product palette I use has literally no European alternative. Kinda hard to buy something that doesn't exist.
Don't worry, a local Corp will import it and sell it to you for 10x the price!
The Japanese cars, motorcycles and electronics were also miles better than what we produced here in the seventies. If anything it is an example that nothing is unbeatable forever. The Japanese didn't kill the automotive industry in Europe. European cars and motorcycles instead got better and more desirable from the 80s on. And the Japanese electronics didn't take over. Instead, European companies first upped their game as well, and later outsourced production to Eastern countries like China. Now that outsourcing is backfiring and European companies are once again challenged.