A hobby industry campaign calls for targeted tariff relief to “protect American small businesses, STEM education, and community-based creative industries.”
The Hobby Industry Coalition represents a wide spectrum of the American hobby and toy industry, including model railroading, among others. Per the Hobby Industry Coalition, the industry supports over 600,000 U.S. jobs and includes thousands of small and family-run businesses.
“Trade Policy at a Crossroads: Safeguarding the Toy & Hobby Industry,” a position paper released by the coalition, outlines how current U.S trade policy, and specifically the 145% tariff on Chinese imports, poses a danger to the American toy and hobby industry.
Per the paper, “the toy and hobby industry (…) is facing collapse,” with tariffs “escalating into an existential threat.”
In a press release shared with Model Railroader, the Coalition, which describes itself as nonpartisan, states that they are calling for refinement rather than repeal of the tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The refinements the coalition has called for includes “reinstating past exclusion processes” and “creating a transparent review mechanism.”
“We’re offering a policy solution that respects enforcement goals while correcting unintended harm” said Stacey Walthers Naffah, CEO and President of Wm. K. Walthers, Inc. “This is practical, precedent-based, and pro-small business.”
More tariff coverage:
Click here to watch an interview with Stacey Walthers Naffah on Trains.com Video.
Click here to watch an interview with Jason Shron, CEO of Rapido Trains, on Trains.com Video.
