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| Denver Post Photo |
That essential gear for playing in Colorado might soon get pricier.
President Donald Trump on Thursday announced a punitive tariff plan targeting products imported from China. The proposal to impose $50 billion in retaliatory tariffs on a wide swath of China-made consumer goods sold in the U.S. could not only trigger a trade war between the world's top economic powers, but drastically increase the cost of technical outdoor gear, potentially injuring the $887 billion outdoor recreation economy.
"Outdoor products already face one of the highest tariffs out there and now you are going to add another 25 percent? This has the potential of being a devastating blow," said Alex Boian, vice president of government affairs for Boulder's Outdoor Industry Association.
Trump did not identify specific products, which are expected to be announced in coming weeks. But the outdoor industry moved quickly to try to head off new tariffs on its products.
The spike in tariffs on products imported from China will pinch manufacturers, who will raise prices of high-end gear.
The tariff proposal would increase fees by 25 percent paid on goods imported from China. When compounded with wholesaler, distributor and retailer costs, the mark-up can climb as much as 75 percent, said Boian. So that $100 increase tariff on a $400 ski jacket — which already has a duty rate of 27.7 percent — ends up costing the consumer as much as $300 more after a distributor doubles the price and a shop owner adds their costs.
"It's going to hit the American consumer hard," Boian said.
