Inflatable Boats and Kayak Paddles Awarded Exemptions from Tariffs
Inflatable boats and kayak paddles were among the 10 types of products that the Trump administration granted tariff exclusions for on Tuesday, a move applauded by the recreational boating industry. Leading up to the decision, NMMA advocated for exempting the products from tariffs targeting $200 billion in Chinese imports – Section 301 List 3 – including working with stakeholders to apply for exclusions, filing comments in favor of the requests, and coordinating with elected officials to submit letters in support of the applications.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) formally established an exclusion process for Section 301 List 3 products in late June, following the administration’s decision to increase the tariff on the impacted items from 10 to 25 percent. USTR will continue accepting exclusion requests until close of business on Monday, September 30, 2019, and NMMA strongly encourages all affected stakeholders to submit a request.
The Federal Register notice released by USTR provides detailed instructions for the exclusion process as well as the form to be used for submitting exclusion requests. USTR expects to receive 60,000 exclusion requests for List 3 products and will periodically announce additional tariff exclusion decisions as they are finalized.
NMMA stands ready to help and support industry partners throughout the exclusion process. For more information, please contact NMMA senior vice president of government and legal affairs, Nicole Vasilaros at [email protected] or NMMA director of federal government affairs, Clay Crabtree at [email protected].