Judy Hoarfrost (pictured above) has been involved with table tennis her entire life. She competed in her first U.S. Open at age 11 and joined the U.S. National Team at 15. Judy visited China as part of the “Ping Pong Diplomacy” team in 1971 – a full year before President Nixon and the normalization of U.S.-China relations – and has been inducted into both the USA Table Tennis and Oregon Sports Halls of Fame. That commitment continues as co-owner (with her brother and junior champion Michael Bochenski) of Paddle Palace Table Tennis in Portland, Oregon.
Paddle Palace, a growing table tennis equipment distributor with 11 employees, is one of the many small businesses that would benefit from lower U.S. import tariffs under the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement. Its imports of table tennis equipment from Japan currently face tariffs of 5.1 percent. The TPP would eliminate those tariffs immediately, potentially savings tens of thousands of dollars annually in waived taxes.
Lower costs associated with TPP passage would help Paddle Palace compete with an unlikely source: direct-to-consumer imports from Europe that do not face tariffs regardless of the country where they were manufactured. That is because only shipments over $800 must pay tariffs, a threshold that most one-off orders of things like table tennis paddles do not reach. As the North American Distributor for the major brands of table tennis, Paddle Palace currently is penalized for making larger purchases that are kept as inventory in, and then shipped from, its Oregon headquarters.
According to Hoarfrost:
“We are experiencing fierce competition from overseas companies who market directly to our end-use customers. These foreign competitors are gaining a market share of our business while not being subjected to the same U.S. taxes that we pay. The TPP will help level the playing field for our American company.”
TPP passage could benefit Paddle Palace’s own direct-to-consumer exports from Oregon as well. Since Paddle Palace’s imports from Japan do not qualify for benefits under NAFTA, they face tariffs of 7.0% when exported to Canada and 10.0% percent when exported to Mexico. Both countries agreed to eliminate import tariffs on table tennis equipment immediately under TPP, and as one of the largest equipment distributors, Paddle Palace is well placed to take advantage of those new markets openings.
Finally, more competitive pricing for imported equipment could lead to increased sales of associated products. For example, Paddle Palace has its own lines of rubber cleaner and glue that are manufactured in Oregon (by another company).
In short, there are many ways that TPP passage would benefit this small but growing Oregon business – but first Congress needs to pass the agreement.
Note: Paddle Palace is one of the first companies to join the free TPP Importers List. If you are an American importer that would benefit from lower U.S. tariffs under TPP, please add your company by filling out this form.