You may have noticed that none of the "can't get it here" stories on this website have to do with Milwaukee tools. I'm not discriminating against them or doing them a favor, it's just that they introduce tools directly to the U.S. market so I can't scan their overseas websites to see what's on the way. It's different with the other big power tool companies. Bosch tends to release tools in Germany, then Western Europe, and after that in the U.S. and other parts of the world. With Makita it's usually Japan, Asia, Europe, and then the U.S. It's hard to say with DeWalt; sometimes their tools first show up in this country, other times they show up first in Europe and elsewhere.
In the end, most tools (or versions of them) are sold in all countries — though some tools never make it to certain markets. Bosch's surface laser is an example of a tool that eventually came here. Last spring I saw a sales sheet for it on a European website. About six months later it became available in the U.S. Ditto for the battery adaptor on this Makita rotary hammer — I wrote about it last summer and it was recently introduced to the U.S. market. Of course plenty of tools make it to European or Asia without making it here; I don't know that we'll ever be able to go in the tool department and see alligator saws, cordless wheelbarrows, or sliding blade table saws.
