In response to President Trump’s request for $200 billion in new tariffs on Chinese products, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) released a proposed list of products imported from China that could face new tariffs, according to a statement from the SFIA.
While most sports equipment, apparel and footwear are not listed, the new package of potential tariffs include sports bags and baseball, softball, hockey and ski gloves. This round of proposed tariffs would apply a 10 percent additional tax on products.
“SFIA believes a trade war will hurt American consumers, businesses and workers. It’s not clear how this gets resolved once it starts,” said SFIA CEO and President Tom Cove. “We do not support this approach to trade, and encourage the president to use alternative negotiating tactics to secure concessions from China to ensure a fair playing field.”
Now that the USTR list is complete, there will be a review process, where companies will be given an opportunity to petition the government to exempt their products from the new tariff. SFIA will organize petitions for member companies to request exemption from the proposed tariffs.
SFIA is urging its members to contact Bill Sells at bsells@SFIA.org for additional information on the product exemption petition process.
