American Sportfishing Association president Glenn Hughes, along with other ASA members, made the case before the U.S. Trade Commission that sportfishing equipment should be excluded from the next round of proposed tariffs on Chinese imports.
“We understand the position of the [President Trump] regarding current trade relations with China, and we support realigning the trade agreements to correct the unfair trade practices,” Hughes said in a statement. “However, we are deeply concerned about the impacts of these proposed tariffs on all the manufacturers who are already paying a unique excise tax of up to 10 percent to support sportfish restoration.”
Sixty percent of fishing equipment in the United States is imported, with two-thirds coming from China. For many product categories, China is the only option, as it has the supply lines and infrastructure already in place.
Find and moving production to other countries would take considerable time and money, the ASA said. Should the tariffs go into effect on fishing equipment, it would increase the cost for consumers.
“The proposed tariffs and the associated increases on the cost of fishing equipment are expected to result in a substantial reduction in consumer spending,” Hughes said. “Fewer fishing equipment purchases means less revenue for fisheries conservation and management, which ultimately means less funding for programs important to the Trump administration’s priorities to improve public access to the outdoors.”
