“The back-and-forth raising of tariffs between the US and China will create consumer turmoil for the music products industry”: Read NAMM CEO’s full updated statement on Trump tariffs
NAMM CEO John Mlynczak has issued a new statement urging the Trump administration to place musical instruments and accessories under exemption from tariffs, as the president’s unpredictable global trade war continues.
Since Donald Trump began threatening – and subsequently imposing – tariffs on nations around the world, notably imposing a whopping 145% tariff on goods imported from China, the global economy has suffered immense volatility. And the musical instruments industry isn’t immune to this uncertainty.
READ MORE: “The Trump tariffs will kill the guitar industry”: YouTubers discuss the impact of Trump’s tariffs on the guitar business
Many of the world’s biggest guitar manufacturers have product lines made in tariff-hit countries, and American-made instruments with Chinese components, for example.
Now, John Mlynczak, CEO of NAMM – the world’s largest music trade show hosted every year in Anaheim, California – has called on Trump’s administration to take steps to limit the damage on the industry caused by tariffs.
“We continue to urge the administration to exempt musical instruments and accessories, along with materials used to manufacture musical products, from the tariffs announced in president Trump’s executive orders,” he writes.
“The negative effects of these measures threaten the economic and cultural impact of US-made musical instruments and accessories, as well as cause our US music products industry to lose its global competitive advantage in producing high-quality products, especially at professional and entry levels.”
He goes on: “The 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs announced last week via executive order (until July 9) is a welcomed measure, but the continued unpredictability of these tariff actions makes it difficult for companies to react in a meaningful way.
“The back-and-forth raising of tariffs between the US and Chinese governments that we have witnessed this past week will have serious business implications and create consumer turmoil for the music products industry. The effects of these sudden and unpredictable tariff actions will have a long-term effect on musicians worldwide.
“In addition, last week NAMM sent a letter in support of US-based acoustic stringed instrument manufacturers urging the US Secretary of Commerce not to recommend additional tariffs on imported tonewoods. These tonewoods are often impossible to grow in the US, and they are used to create many iconic music products for American brands.”
Ironically, it recently emerged that Trump Guitars – the brand endorsed by the president himself and which last year found itself under the legal eye of Gibson – were apparently being made in China, the country most heavily affected by Trump’s tariffs.
Of course, Trump’s tariffs threaten the wider music industry beyond just musical instruments. Our sister publication MusicTech recently reported on a Billboard journalist who broke down the impact said tariffs might have on the wider music gear and vinyl pressing industries.
Read John Mlynczak’s full statement on the NAMM website.
The post “The back-and-forth raising of tariffs between the US and China will create consumer turmoil for the music products industry”: Read NAMM CEO’s full updated statement on Trump tariffs appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
