Baseball cap prices set to rise as US-China trade war hits World Series fans
- Baseball fans could soon be paying as much as 25 per cent more for their favourite team’s caps
US President Donald Trump’s trade war with China appears set to increase the price of yet another all-American icon – the baseball cap.
As the World Series gets underway on Tuesday with Game 1 of a coastal battle between the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers, new tariffs imposed by the Trump administration mean many baseball fans could soon be paying as much as 25 per cent more for their favourite team’s caps.
According to the American Headwear Alliance, which represents producers such as Massachusetts-based ’47 Brand and Indiana-based Lids, the vast majority of caps sold in the US are imported from overseas.
Of those, 89 per cent came from China last year, said Jim Day, a spokesman for the alliance.
A 10 per cent tariff on headgear was included in a list of new import taxes that went into effect last month on thousands of product categories worth some US$200 billion in annual trade. The administration has said those tariffs will increase to 25 per cent come January 1.
The Trump administration is imposing tariffs in part to encourage American manufacturers to come home as well as gain leverage in trade negotiations with Beijing that remain largely stalled.