From February 24–25, PeopleForBikes convened a small group of bicycle industry leaders in Washington, D.C, to advocate for our shared federal trade priorities before Congress. Executives from United Wheels, Specialized, Trek, and Hyper Bicycles joined PeopleForBikes’ policy team for a series of meetings with congressional offices and committees on both sides of the aisle.

Industry leaders shared how their companies and the broader bicycle industry are being negatively affected by the rapidly developing trade policies enacted by the Trump administration. Unless another last-minute reprieve is announced, most bicycles made in China will soon face a base duty of 11%, Section 301 tariffs of 25%, new tariffs of another 20%, and 25% tariffs in relation to Venezuelan oil imports for total import duties of 81% beginning as soon as April 2. With the new, additional duties, the total tariff on electric bicycles imported from China will have risen from zero (duty free) to 70% since June 2024.

READ THE LATEST INDUSTRY UPDATES ON TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TARIFFS

The industry executives told congressional representatives that while their companies moved some manufacturing out of China to GSP-eligible nations to take advantage of duty-free import incentives, they have paid unanticipated tariffs since the program expired at the end of 2020. The costs of relocating, coupled with the additional capital needed to pay supplemental duties, have severely impacted many U.S. bike companies, which also suffered recent layoffs.

Another main topic of discussion is that because the de minimis threshold for goods imported into the United States is the highest in the world at $800, these same bicycle companies and retailers are unfairly forced to compete against foreign-based online sellers. Under de minimis, these foreign sellers can sell and ship bikes and electric bicycles to U.S. consumers without paying any tariffs, collect no sales taxes for states, and are held to no safety standards.  

PeopleForBikes will host multiple fly-ins to Washington D.C. throughout the rest of 2025 to advocate for the collective interests of the bicycle industry and introduce industry leaders to their representatives in Congress. If you are interested in attending a future fly-in, please contact PeopleForBikes Vice President of Government Relations Dr. Ash Lovell at ash@peopleforbikes.org for more information.