“We've been looking at it for the last couple of years,” Handelman, Strikeforce’s president, said. “The labour cost has increased … The youth of China, similar to the United States, they don't want to work in factories. Our factories have been telling us they can’t get labour. They can’t get workers after [Lunar] New Year to come back and work for them.”

US President Donald Trump has threatened to place tariffs as soon as July on some US$300 billion of Chinese-made products, ranging from flat panel televisions to magic tricks, as he tries to force Beijing to change years of industrial and trade policy.

Handelman will testify on Wednesdayas part of a series of hearings being held by the US Trade Representative’s office as companies seek to exclude categories of products from the latest round of tariffs.

In 2018, the US imported about US$1.5 billion of Chinese-made sports footwear, including bowling shoes, that are now facing a 25 per cent tariffs, according to the US International Trade Commission. That amount does not include golf shoes or ski boots.

“It’s not easy to move out of China. The efficiency and quality of workers in Southeast Asia is not up to mainland workers’ standards,” Jeffrey Lam Kin-fung, the managing director of Hong Kong manufacturer Forward Winsome Industries.

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“There are not enough quality laboratories to do testing to ensure products complying to international safety standard,” Lam, who also is a member of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council representing the business sector. “Some manufacturers need to transport goods back to China to do testing.”

Lam said some clients have asked manufacturers to cut prices because of the lower labour costs in Southeast Asia, but have not considered the extra costs manufacturers incur. Forward Winsome acts as a manufacturer for American toymakers and other companies at its plants in Guangdong province.

At the same time, labour costs in Vietnam and other parts of Southeast Asia are rising as demand in the region is increasing, said Lam, who recently visited Hanoi to look for production alternatives.

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The average monthly salary in Vietnam is more than 7 million dong (HK$2,350) – about HK$1,000 less a month than what a worker makes in Dongguan city in Guangdong, he said.

For years, Strikeforce, which employs about 50 people in the US, has outsourced its manufacturing of bowling shoes, bags and accessories to China. It also outsources manufacturing of some bowling balls, primarily for bowling alleys, to the mainland.

Handelman, the Strikeforce president, said it has been hard to find new sources of manufacturing outside the mainland because it is a small company and only produces “hundreds of thousands” of shoes a year.

Strikeforce does not have the demand to order several million pairs of shoes or bags a year, like larger footwear companies might be able to. The company’s shoes are sold at Dick’s Sporting Goods, on specialty websites and Amazon.com.

“We have tried for years to move some of our sourcing,” Handelman said in a letter to the US Trade Representative’s office. “They all want to produce for the Wal-Marts and Nikes of the world, not a small, family-run businesses.”

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In May, the US increased tariffs on about US$200 billion of Chinese imports from 10 per cent to 25 per cent, including bowling bags.

Combined with existing duties on sport bags, Strikeforce is now incurring a levy of 42 per cent on every bowling bag it imports, Handelman said.

If the new tariffs are put in place, the effective duty will ultimately be 31 per cent to 42 per cent per pair of bowling shoes, Handelman said.

As a result, Strikeforce will most likely have to absorb the higher costs and cut jobs if the tariffs are in place for an extended period of time.

Handelman said that Strikeforce, despite being one of the nation’s largest supplier of bowling consumer products, simply lacks the scale to renegotiate with its manufacturers.

“We've actually already attempted that,” Handelman said. “Maybe a couple of our suppliers will give up a few points. They say that, but we’ll see when push comes to shove. We certainly can’t pass it on.”

The typical family in the US only has about US$500 in disposable income, so they may not have the money to spare if prices increase across-the-board for consumers.

“Guys are just going to say, you know what, I’m not buying a new pair of shoes this year or worse yet, they may quit bowling,” Handelman said.