Senate Passes Tariff Relief Bill, Saving Industry Millions

SOURCE: Sports & Fitness Industry Association

SILVER SPRING, MD (July 30, 2018) – The U.S. Senate passed the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) on July 26, 2018, which will lower existing tariffs on a wide variety of imported goods. The Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) led over 30 successful petitions on various industry products, which will now receiveduty relief under the new, revised MTB. SFIA expects the House to adopt the Senate version of the bill, enabling it to be sent to President Trump for a signature at an earlier date. If the Senate version of the bill is signed, it will likely go into effect mid-October, and will expire on December 31, 2020. SFIA will organize petitions for duty relief beyond 2020. Regardless of when the new tariff rates go into effect, the bill will create a total of $16.5 million in duty relief annually.

Over 30 products in the sports and fitness industry will benefit from the MTB.  Once the new tariff rates are enacted, the following products will receive duty relief:

• Racquetball Rackets – Free

• Racquetballs – Free

• Squash Rackets – Free

• Elliptical Cycles – Free

• Batting Gloves (Leather) – Free

• Batting Gloves (MMF/Synth) – Free

• Boxing/MMA Gloves (Leather) – Free

• Boxing/MMA Gloves (Plastic) – Free

• Tetherballs – Free

• Exercise & Yoga Mats – Free

• Athletic Mouth Guards – Free

• Training Gloves – Free

• Swim Goggles – Free

• AC Gens for Exercise Equip. – Free

• Boxing/MMA Protective Equip. – Free

• Golf Blub Head (Driver) – Free

• Golf Club Head (Hybrid) – Free

• Golf Club Head (Wedge > 56) – Free

• Golf Club Head (Wedge < 56) – 0.7%

• Golf Club Head Iron (1-7) – 2%

• Golf Club Head Iron (8-9) – 0.8%

• Golf Club Head Putter – 3.5%

• Tennis Racket (Strung) – 3.3%

• Tennis Racket Frames – 1.3%

• Speed Bag & Related Equip. – 1.8%

• Removable Insoles – 4.7%

• LCD TV for Exercise Equip. – 4%

• Volleyballs – 1%

• Exercise Cycles – 4.4%

• Basketballs (Rubber) – 3.1%

• Basketballs (Synthetic) – 3.5

“We applaud the Senate action to approve the MTB tariff reductions, which SFIA has been working on for more than a year,” said Tom Cove, SFIA President and CEO. “These products are in categories where there little or no American manufacturing, so the tariffs protected no one. It’s a winner for both consumers and companies.”

For more information on the MTB duty relief, please contact Bill Sells at [email protected].

ABOUT SFIA: The Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA), the #1 source for sport and fitness research, is the leading global trade association of manufacturers, retailers, and marketers in the sports products and fitness industry. SFIA seeks to promote sports and fitness participation, as well as industry vitality through research, thought leadership, public affairs, industry affairs and member services. For more information, please visit www.sfia.org.