Features

The second Trump administration commenced with a blitzkrieg of tariff actions targeting Canada, Mexico and China with the possibility of additional actions impacting other countries under review. While the status of the tariffs against Mexico and Canada is under negotiation, a 10% tariff on all imports from China has already taken effect at the time of writing.

Tariffs are a challenge for companies that manufacture abroad and the administration is using them to address issues far beyond curing trade imbalances. This makes predicting what tariffs might be imposed difficult, as well as the potential for retaliatory duties by other countries to U.S. manufactured cards.

Given the broader geo-political tensions with China, and the fact that the Section 301 tariffs imposed during the first Trump administration were sustained throughout President Biden’s term, it is likely that the China tariffs will be the most durable.

However, this does include a silver lining for GCA publishers. Embedded in the China tariff was the elimination of the de minimis exemption for products valued at $800 or less. This will make it harder for companies like Temu and Shein, who traffic in counterfeit greeting cards using designs stolen from U.S. publishers, to be as price-competitive. Unfortunately, the U.S. doesn’t yet have the infrastructure in place to screen hundreds of millions of packages from China. Because of this, the elimination of the exemption has been paused, but it will be enforced once Customs and Border Patrol can manage the process.

The GCA is preparing to respond to an executive order asking for feedback on formal and informal barriers to free and fair trade from other countries. We will be calling out the blind eye the Chinese government has given to copyright and other intellectual property theft. Our hope is to ensure that while tariffs on legitimate products are removed, they remain in place for bad actors.