A few years ago it was impossible to find any inkjet printers that weren’t made in China. How times have changed.
I’m used to checking “best of” sites like Wirecutter and Consumer Reports and finding that all of the products they review are made in China. With inkjet printers, I was amazed to find that all of the top rated models were made outside of China.
As we’ve seen with many categories, we largely have the 2018 Tariffs to thank for the shift in production.
I cringe when I see messages on X attacking President Trump for putting these in place or President Biden for keeping them in place. You can see for yourself on this blog that when I started three years ago it was nearly impossible to find products not made in China, but now there’s an embarrassment of riches in many categories (including this one). The tariffs worked, and both administrations deserve a lot of credit for standing up to those (including many in their own administrations) who put greed over national security and tried to end the tariffs.
Why do tariffs work? It’s simple. Tariffs make it too unaffordable for the CCP to put their fingers on the scales by ensuring that China manufacturers will always win the lowest bids. If you look at what happened to toasters and clock radios you’ll understand why this is so dangerous. When China monopolizes production for entire sectors, they eventually have the power to push American brands out. And most American executives don’t care if they destroy their brands—they just care about the quarterly earnings for the next 2-3 years before they get kicked out of their positions.
Granted, we’re not there yet. We need to make sure that whoever is elected in 2024 keeps these in place; many companies still have one foot in China and one foot out.
For example, in 2019 Ricoh famously announced that they planned on shutting down their China manufacturing and moving production to Thailand. From what I can tell, that was more a PR move than reality, similar to how Apple poured billions of dollars into China and in recent years keeps saying that they’re moving to Vietnam and India (they’ve been saying it for years and aside from a handful of iPhones for domestic use I don’t see it). Ricoh is in a similar boat where they went all-in on building factories in China, and may be trying to save face by moving some of their lower end models to Thailand. Lesson: don’t believe everything you read on the Internet.
Most other companies, including HP, Canon, Epson, and Brother, have shifted a lot of their production…but you can bet they’ll rush back to China
Here are some of the best you can buy.
Best AIO Inkjet Printers Not Made in China
1. HP OfficeJet Pro 9125e – Made in Thailand (around $225)
The HP OfficeJet Pro has the distinction of being named the best overall AIO printer by Wirecutter. They rave about how easy it is to set up, its crisp output, and its relatively low cost of 2.4 cents per page for black and white or 8.8 cents per page for color. It’s made in Thailand.
If you prefer an AIO laser printer, their top pick is the HP Color LaserJet Pro, which is made in Vietnam.
2. Brother MFC-J4335DW– Made in the Philippines (around $180)
This model happens to have been named the best “budget pick” by Wirecutter and also got rave reviews from PC Magazine and RTINGS, among others. Brother customer service confirms that it is manufactured in the Philippines. I love how their replacement ink is made in the Philippines as well.
Reviewers love the performance of this printer and the value for your money.
3. Epson EcoTank ET-2800 Wireless Color All-in-One – Made in the Philippines (around $200)
Epson has of course been a leader in printer technology for years, and their EcoTank represents the first innovation in the industry in some time. Instead of using super-expensive proprietary cartridges, they use bottles of ink. Okay, they’re still proprietary, but at least you get a lot more ink in a bottle, which means much lower operating costs—as low as 0.31 cents per page for black-and-white (yes, that’s one-third of a cent per page).
There is a tradeoff with quality and speed, but you can’t beat this one for value—and it’s made in the Philippines. If you’re looking for a higher-end model with better performance and features such as 2-sided printing, an auto document feeder, and an Ethernet connection, you’ll want the ET-3850 (around $350, also made in the Philippines). Their highest end ink tank model is the ET-8500 (around $600, also made in the Philippines).
4. Canon Pixma MG3620 Wireless All-in-One Color Inkjet Printer – Made in Vietnam ($50)
I’ve loved Canon since I had my first Canon SLR camera back in the 1980s. Since then they’ve made an impressive foray into printers and scanners.
If you’re looking for a cheap, entry-level printer, you can find the Canon Pixma MG3620 as low as $50. It’s made in Vietnam, and is a reliable, no-frills printer for every day home use, especially if you just want to quickly print out photos from your phone or tablet.
If you have a bit more money to spend, the Canon MAXIFY GX4020 was named the best overall printer by TechRadar. At $400 it’s not cheap, but it’s one of the best performing and highest quality inkjet printers you can buy, and like the Epson it uses ink bottles.
Conclusion
I focused on inkjet AIO printers here, but if you do your research you’ll find that lots of laser printers are also moving out of China. Do what I did and just take a trip to a local brick and mortar store like Target, Walmart, or Best Buy and read the box.
The printer industry moves so fast that by the time you read this, a lot of the model numbers above will probably have changed. But generally speaking the brand names, family names, and the first few digits of the model number will be the same. Just be sure to check the country of origin before you add any product to your cart, as manufacturers can switch factories on a dime.
Do you know of other printers not made in China? Please share it in the comments!
