Thinkpads for some reason are disproportionally cheaper in the US. A lot of countries in (south) east asia are a lot more expensive. Taiwans own electronics brands are cheaper in the US than they are in Taiwan.
no the MSRP is simply doubled in regions they do that, and effective prices are exactly the same as elsewhere. Like a midrange model might be listed as $4999.99 stricken with an "up to 65% off launch celebration offer" and a "bonus" 15% off auto-applying coupons, and all combined the price might line up into e.g. a $1045.69 for an i5/16GB. That sort of BS. It's actually one of aspects that had improved about ThinkPads since the Lenovo handover.