New Import Tariffs Could Mean Trouble For U.S Synth Manufacturers
Moog Music warned that President Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports threaten American synth manufacturing.
United States synth manufacturers could be facing uncertain times due to President Donald Trump’s recently announced tariffs on Chinese imports. In a letter sent to their customers, Moog Music—one of America’s flagship instrument manufacturers and success stories—says that a 25% import tax effective from July 6 would bring significant additional costs to synth production. The letter warned that this could force Moog to layoff U.S. workers or even move their manufacturing overseas:
Dear Moog Family,
We need your help.
A U.S. tariff (import tax) on Chinese circuit boards and associated components is expected to take effect on July 6, 2018.
These tariffs will immediately and drastically increase the cost of building our instruments, and have the very real potential of forcing us to lay off workers and could (in a worst case scenario) require us to move some, if not all, of our manufacturing overseas.
There is one thing all of us can do together to try and stop this: Write to our elected officials.
We ask that you will support us by imploring our elected officials to recognize that these tariffs are seriously harmful to American businesses like Moog.
Moog is based in Asheville, North Carolina and is calling upon supporters to demand elected officials rescind the new tax policy. You can read Moog’s full letter online here.
Read more: Watch a video of Moog’s newly reissued modular synth