Trade & Commerce

ASA is committed to advancing the economic interests of our members and the entire recreational fishing community. According to a 2024 report, recreational fishing contributes $230 billion to our economy, supports 1.1 million jobs and over $70 billion in salaries and wages. Fishing and boating are also the largest contributors to the $1.3 trillion outdoor recreation economy and more than 1 in 6 Americans go fishing each year. Through these contributions, we fund over $2 billion for fisheries conservation each year from fishing license sales, the excise tax on sportfishing tackle and donations to conservation organizations.

Fishing is an essential fabric of the American experience, and our impact cannot be understated. Every day, ASA staff are working with decision makers to put our industry, and our members front and center when policies are being considered in Washington, D.C. and beyond. Whether it’s speaking out against harmful tariffs, protecting the competitive advantage of U.S. based manufacturers and retailers, or ensuring online marketplaces pay their fair share in Excise taxes, we have your back.

Tariffs

Correcting imbalances in international trade, including through the use of tariffs, has been a central policy priority for the Trump Administration. To date, the actions most impactful to the sportfishing industry are tariffs on products from China, Canada and Mexico, alongside tariffs on imported sportfishing products and their components, including reels, nets, waders and more. In many cases, whether and how these tariffs will be implemented remain in the air, as new information rapidly becomes available.

Timeline of major tariff actions since 2025

• April 2, 2025: Liberation Day – President Trump issued Executive Order 14257, announcing the most expansive tariff increase in almost 100 years. The order imposed a baseline 10% tariff with rates going all the way up to 40% for targeted countries and import goods.
• February 20, 2026: IEEPA Ruling – On February 20, 2026, in a 6-3 decision the Supreme Court struck down tariffs imposed under the Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Following the ruling, Customs and Border Protection was ordered to issue mass refunds on all tariffs collected under IEEPA.
• May 5, 2026: ASA Testifies before U.S. Trade Representatives – American Sportfishing Association President and CEO Glenn Hughes testified before the U.S. Trade Representatives on the impact of tariffs to the sportfishing industry and in response to its Section 301 investigation into structural excess capacity and production in the manufacturing section. Hughes highlighted the lack of domestic manufacturing capacity for most fishing tackle as production is concentrated overseas due to the scale and price points required to serve American anglers.
• July 24, 2026: Out with Section 122 Tariffs and in with Section 301 – New tariffs of 10% or 12.5% were levied under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 on most imports from 60 different economies. The implementation of the new Section 301 tariffs replaced the universal 10% Section 122 tariffs which expired the same day.

Tariffs remain a core avenue for the current administration to restore trade imbalance, and ASA will continue to monitor these developments, engage with federal agencies and Congress, and provide updates to members on compliance requirements, advocacy opportunities and potential relief measures.

De Minimis

The de minimis rule allows products valued under $800 imported by one person on one day to enter the U.S. duty-free. Many industries have expressed concerns with the current de minimis rule. Over 1.36 billion de minimis entries were processed in 2024 – a 600% increase since 2015. The fishing industry, however, is especially impacted due to the excise taxes on fishing equipment.

The de minimis loophole lets foreign sellers evade excise taxes and import duties, which are critical revenue sources for the Sport Fish Restoration Program. Domestic manufacturers and importers are placed at a competitive disadvantage, while conservation programs that depend on these funds face increasing shortfalls.

On April 2nd, 2025, an Executive Order announced the termination of de minimis entry for Chinese origin goods beginning May 2. Then, in early July, President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law, codifying the elimination of de minimis for all countries beginning in 2027. Soon after, President Trump signed another executive order ending de minimis for all countries, which went into effect on August 29. Now all international commercial shipments are subject to import duties and taxes, regardless of their value. Every package must now include a customs declaration detailing its contents, value, and country of origin.

Sporting Goods Excise Tax Modernization Act

Federal excise taxes on archery and sportfishing equipment help fund the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Programs, which in 2022 provided over $1 billion to state wildlife agencies for conservation and recreational access projects. Our industry supports paying the excise tax, which has existed for decades, because these projects improve hunting and fishing opportunities, leading to more equipment sales. The excise tax is imposed on the manufacturer or importer at a rate of 10% at the first point of sale for sportfishing products.

The proliferation of e-commerce has created a unique challenge in collecting the excise tax. Online marketplaces (e.g., Amazon, Walmart, eBay) facilitate the sale of archery and sportfishing equipment from foreign manufacturers to U.S. consumers. In doing so, the traditional mechanism for excise tax collection (the U.S.-based manufacturer or importer) is avoided. In most cases, the consumer would be responsible for paying the tax, but such collections are unfeasible.

In February 2026, Representatives Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) and Blake Moore (R-UT) introduced the Sporting Goods Excise Tax Modernization Act (H.R.1494) in the House, followed by a Senate companion bill (S.1649) introduced by Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) in May.

The bill closes a loophole by requiring online marketplaces to collect the fishing and archery equipment excise taxes from direct-from-overseas-to-U.S.-consumer sales. Currently, these excise taxes are generally not collected on products sold by foreign manufacturers via online marketplaces, and under current law the responsibility falls on the consumer without their knowledge.

Without action by Congress, excise tax slippage will only continue to increase as online purchases become even more popular, putting tax-paying manufacturers at a competitive disadvantage and shortchanging fisheries conservation.

Given its importance, ASA has worked closely with members of Congress to advance the Sportfishing Goods Excise Tax Modernization Act and put U.S. companies on equal footing with international and online marketplaces. In addition to various press releases, ASA was also interviewed on the bill for a story on the Meat Eater blog. Click here to read the article.

We are optimistic this legislation will find its way to the President’s desk before the end of the 119th Congress.

On tariffs, ASA has employed the services of Sorini, Samet & Associates, one of the leading trade firms in Washington, D.C. By extension, ASA has made these services available to our members via multiple webinars, regular email updates and 1-on-1 consultations. We’ve also engaged members of Congress regularly on the economic value of recreational fishing, including meetings with both relevant House and Senate committees, as well as testimony by ASA president Glenn Hughes in front of the U.S. Trade Representative on May 5, 2026. ASA has submitted comments to the U.S. Trade Representatives on every major trade action of this administration and provided resources to our members on how to share the impacts these tariffs have on their businesses.

If you would like access to any of these materials, please email Mike Leonard.