by Amanda Hueneke

This unfortunately, is not one of my fluffier blogs, but a matter of fact one. As of yesterday, May 10th at 12:01 am, tariff from goods imported from China jumped from 10% to 25%. I'd written about this coming increase and how to best circumvent it in my blog post in November; but the day has come and tariffs are in full effect. 

As you may be aware, a vast majority of promotional products, paper, material and inks- or at the very least- components of products and/or equipment are sourced in China; therefore, this news does carry significant impact to our industry. As active members and participants of Promotional Products Association International (PPAI), we help fund advocates and industry professionals who will be participating in Legislative Education and Action Day (L.E.A.D.) in Washington, DC next week. They will advocate and explore with legislators ways to equalize the trade playing field without penalizing the consumer.  So they will be there speaking on our behalf, and yours.

We know that this change can make pricing fluctuate and a bit to tricky to navigate and understand, and we want to do the best we can to minimize the impact to your marketing efforts. While some of our warehouses have inventory that was purchased under the tariffs prior to May 10th; once that inventory is depleted, we will be subject to the increased tariff rates and that may affect prices. Goods that were in transit from China prior to May 10th will only be subject to the 10% tariff. So, while this is happening, there may be a window of opportunity to capitalize on the lower tariff rates. If you have an order pending with us, please do consider that working quickly to purchase may work to your best advantage. 

Here's the nitty-gritty: As stated on our website in November, pricing is subject to change at any time due to the tariff increases. Quotations that were generated prior to May 10th that have not been purchased may need to be revised. And quotations going forward will be subject to smaller windows of expiration in order to accommodate these changes. We appreciate your understanding as we work around this new legislation. 

Going back to our core values- we strive to provide products and services that are timely, balanced, appropriate and creative- always with integrity. This situation will have us working hard to continue those, with a little extra creativity thrown in to make sure that we come up with solutions that balance with your budget despite this increase. As always, the benefits of working with us as a promotional products professionals is that we will do the shopping for you, we are advocating for you, and we are looking out for your best interest in creating the perfect marketing hello. We look forward to partnering with you to mitigate the results of tariffs to your marketing plan.