DANA POINT, Calif. (BRAIN) — With consumer demand waning, inflation rising and stimulus money drying up, Wednesday's announcement that many Chinese bikes will become exempt from a 25% tariff was well-timed.
So said Mike O'Gara, a senior vice president at Huffy Corp., speaking here at PeopleForBikes' Bicycle Leadership Conference.
"The tariff gift couldn't have come at a better time for us," O'Gara said.
The U.S. Trade Representative's office reinstated 352 expired product exclusions Wednesday, affecting bike products from China that have been subjected to a 25% U.S. Section 301 tariff since Jan 1, 2021, when the previous exclusion expired.
Some of the exemptions include kids bikes — 20-inch and smaller wheel bikes and 24-inch bikes — e-bikes, carbon fiber frames (valued at $600 or less), certain helmets, bicycle trailers, messenger bags, and some other products.
Most bicycle products from China have been subject to a 25% Section 301 tariff.
"That is amazing news," said Specialized Bicycles' executive vice president, Bob Margevicius, announcing the news to cheers before hosting a panel about supply chain management at the BLC. O'Gara was among the panel members.
The reinstated product exclusions are effective retroactively from Oct. 12, 2021, and extend through Dec. 31, 2022, the office said. They cover a lot of the initially estimated $370 billion worth of Chinese imports that then-President Donald Trump hit with tariffs of 7.5% to 25%.
Other products affected are pumps, electric motors, certain car parts and chemicals, backpacks, vacuum cleaners, and other consumer goods.
In February, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators asked the Biden administration to establish "a more comprehensive" process to exclude some products from the Section 301 tariffs on some products from China.
The administration relaunched an exclusion process in October 2021 when USTR's Katherine Tai began reviewing whether to reinstate the 549 exclusions to question China on its trade practices.
