US gov’t axes the tax on Chinese motorcycle helmets

[advrider 0]

A change in federal government policy could mean lower-priced motorcycle helmets for American motorcyclists.

After months of lobbying, the United States Trade Representative has announced it will no longer charge tariffs on made-in-China motorcycle helmets. Those tariffs were put in place during the US’s trade war of 2018, which saw a madcap back-and-forth exchange as the US and its trading partners accused each other of all sorts of skullduggery. The result? For some reason, motorcyclists ended getting the dirty end of the stick. Other countries slapped tariffs on US-built bikes, and the US government fired back with its own retaliatory moves, including tariffs on the Chinese motorcycle industry, including helmets.

The Motorcycle Industry Council had a problem with that. According to the MIC’s logic, the tariffs ended up driving up prices for American consumers, instead of raising the cost of business for Chinese businesses. So, it teamed up with other industry insiders to lobby the USTR and other federal lawmakers and regulatory bodies, trying to get rid of that tariff. Earlier this week, word came down that the Feds were indeed dropping the tariff. Now, the MIC is advising importers who’ve been paying the tariff that they should be applying to get that money back.

Will this mean consumers who bought those helmets will also get a rebate? Not likely. Will it mean a reduction on made-in-China helmet prices? Well—how often do you see prices decrease on anything? Not often. However, there might be a bit of a price tag relief, and with today’s economic uncertainty, any help on pricing is a good thing.

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