A group of heavyweights from the guitar industry is to meet President Trump in a bid to persuade him to mitigate the tariffs that ultimately could be devastating for the sector.
The delegation includes NAMM CEO John Mlynczak, John McElroy from Martin, Gibson’s Erin Salmon, Taylor’s Director of Sustainability Scott Paul and Fender Executive Vice President of Product, Justin Norvell.
They will doubtless explain to him something which should be obvious – that guitar manufacturing is a globalised industry, that many lines of products have Chinese components, and that even if producers were to source that material from elsewhere, this would have the effect of increasing production costs and thus price and dampening demand. Economics 101, in other words.
The group has already met with Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty, and plans to meet with a number of other elected leaders to “continue our advocacy work on issues that can impact our industry”.
Since Trump announced a 145% tariff on Chinese goods last month, many music brands have voiced their concerns about their long term impact. Indeed a few weeks ago John Mlynczak issued a statement noting his concerns about the effect Trump’s tariffs may have on the musical instruments industry.
“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 wrote.
“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.”
Back in March, Electro-Harmonix founder Mike Matthews said he feared for the future of his company if Trump doesn’t change course.
“We’re gonna have to continue to buy our raw materials from overseas, even with the tariffs,” he said.
“Trump’s policy on tariffs will definitely bring very big companies into America for the manufacturing, but small and medium companies, their volume will not be big enough. I’ll have to scratch my chin to think about it – you know, can I still make a profit?”
