SIA president critical of new round of tariffs
25/09/2018
On September 17, the US government announced its decision to move forward with tariffs on approximately $200 billion per year worth of imports from China. In response, China announced it would retaliate by targeting imports from the US worth $60 billion per year. Both sets of measures came into force on September 24.
The president of SIA, Nick Sargent, used his monthly letter to the organisation’s members to thank all those who sent letters and made calls that urged the US administration to remove snow sports products from the list of items affected by these tariffs. He said this had helped get safety helmets removed.
He warned, however, that there is still work to be done, with ski gloves, knit hats and sport bags still on the list. SIA will now work to obtain exceptions for these products.
Mr Sargent said: “SIA has been tracking and taking action on this issue since these potential tariffs were announced because at the core of the problem, these tariffs pose an economic threat to our manufacturers and retailers – ultimately passed along to the consumers through higher prices. And it’s our retailers, the backbone of our industry, that will feel the most pain. As much as we support a mutually beneficial trade relationship with China, these tariffs aren’t the way to achieve that.”
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