Not yet the time to declare victory on tariffs
This week, there has been news that the Trump Administration might be suspending tariffs on products from China. While this news is promising, NMMA’s government relations team notes that now is not the time to declare victory. NMMA’s Senior Vice President of Government and Legal Affairs, Nicole Vasilaros says, “There is still tremendous uncertainty surrounding U.S. trade policy, which means we need to keep our heads down and continue to push our industry’s position. Nothing is set in stone and with the threat of compounding tariffs still a reality for marine manufacturers, we can’t stop until we know for certain they’re completely off the table.
“We must continue to fight multiple threats in the current trade climate--- an antidumping and countervailing duty investigation on Chinese aluminum sheet, Section 232 tariff on all aluminum and steel imports, Section 301 on marine engines and components, and the ongoing renegotiation of NAFTA,” says Vasilaros “The tariffs on aluminum sheet from China—both the anti-dumping tariff, which will be announced in mid-June, and the previously announced countervailing duty - could hit marine manufacturers with a combined tariff of as much as 60%. What’s more, the ‘232’ tariff remains a threat as the Administration continues to move forward with its implementation on steel and aluminum imports from around the globe, risking retaliation from key trading partners like the EU— which would be significantly detrimental to our industry. We need to keep our voice loud on the negative impact of these tariffs for the foreseeable future.”
In recent weeks NMMA has been engaged with the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) regarding proposed ‘301’ tariffs on goods imported from China. In addition to testifying and submitting comments to the ‘301’ Investigation Committee, the NMMA government relations team encouraged the boating community to take action by weighing in directly with USTR. “We’re grateful to everyone who stepped up the past few days and submitted comments to USTR on the ‘301’ tariffs. There is no doubt we will make an impact with the more than 90 comments submitted through Boating United. Maintaining our momentum will be a focus over the coming weeks.”