Trade policy is back in the news. The Trump administration recently added a 25% tariff to many Chinese products and removed tariffs on steel and aluminum from Mexico and Canada.
It appears that the removal of tariffs on steel and aluminum – which had been in place for nearly a year – is meant to improve the prospects of the new NAFTA, the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Despite ending the tariffs, the administration reserves the right to reimpose duties on these products if imports from Mexico or Canada surge beyond historical levels. For now, there is some stability with our North American trading partners.
Meanwhile, nearly 6,000 products will be affected by the latest tariff increases on Chinese products entering the U.S., including some components used in the U.S. sign, graphics and visual communications industry. The extent to which industry members could be affected by this increase in tariffs on items coming from China depends on how much and how often they buy these products.
Is your company starting to feel the impact of tariffs from suppliers? Is our industry changing its supply chain and the way they do business as a result of these tariffs?
We’d like your feedback! ISA’s advocacy team can work on your behalf to make recommendations to government officials about any industry concerns. This could include working with like-minded trade associations to educate officials on the impact of these trade policies on our industry. It could even include applying for exemptions or exclusions on certain products. To do so, we need to get tangible, concrete input from the sign, graphics and visual communications industry on how tariffs are affecting your business.
If your business is being adversely affected by these tariffs, please contact David Hickey, ISA’s Vice President of Advocacy, at david.hickey@signs.org, so that ISA can effectively represent our industry on these issues.
