We’ve become accustomed to inexpensive gear when it comes to the “expendables” we use in our outdoor forays. OK, everyone gets a little bent and twisted when a $34 hardbait hangs up on a piece of underwater structure, but we’re not all using baits, weights, hooks, lines or sinkers in the ultra-premium class.
I know I’m not.
That point was brought home to me a couple of summers ago when I announced I was headed into the lake to retrieve a Lucky Craft bait I’d hung in shallow structure. “You’re going into the water over a $17 bait,” my friend asked- just before the splash confirmed my intention. I retrieved the bait, kept fishing and realized at that point there were several tiers to bass fishing. I definitely wasn’t top shelf material.
That doesn’t mean I’m not concerned about the back-on-the-front-burner trade war with China. If this one goes the distance, we’re all going to be paying more for our affordable gear. That’s because we’re not really paying attention to where the gear we use for everything from camping, shooting, hunting, kayaking and fly fishing really comes from.
OK, it comes from a local store, but it likely originated in China. And a trade war means the costs of duties attached on goods and services passed directly to the consumer.
That means when governments fight, consumers finance the arguments. The American Fly Fishing Trade Association weighs in on the looming costs in today’s news section, but it’s worth noting the point AFFTA president Ben Bulis makes in his statement.
Consumers, he notes, are already absorbing $69 billion (yes, with a “b”) dollars in additional costs from tariffs in just the past ten months. Another round of hikes may make the point we’re not going to sit still while China takes advantage of us, but there’s also the chance it will cause consumers to sit still on purchases impacted by the trade disagreement.
The last thing any of our small retailers need at this point is a slowdown in sales- especially in the coming summer months. As we’ve been pointing out in recent editions, small businesses- despite the fact they’re large drivers of the economy- are paying a disproportionate piece of the costs of trade wars.
They’re already battling to keep competitive in the face of shrinking margins, increased online shopping and the already constant battles with big box retailers. The only consolation they may have is that the big box retailers will be forced- in most instances- to either raise prices or stop carrying imported goods that will be priced out of their profit matrixes due to tariffs.
There are plenty of challenges facing small retailers today. The trade tariffs are another rock in already hefty backpacks.
You might dismiss this whole issue because you consider Chinese goods to be bargain-basement stuff that you view as disposable. You might be looking through old optics, because Chinese goods have advanced - a lot- since those days. Today, Chinese manufactured or sourced parts are included in some of the premium brands we all take for granted.
We need to work out fair practices with all our international trading partners. Unfortunately, we’ve been importing far more than we’ve exported for a very long time. Relying on those inexpensive options isn’t realistic in an increasingly global economy. But the resolution may be expensive in ways many of us don’t consider.
We’ll keep you posted.
