GoPro remains "on track" to begin "ramping" its "U.S.-bound" action-camera production this quarter in Guadalajara, Mexico, as a proactive hedge against possible future Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods, said Chief Financial Officer Brian McGee on a Q1 call Thursday evening. GoPro has no current exposure to the three rounds of tariffs imposed since July but wanted protection anyway against new duties, he said.

Sharp Home Electronics, the U.S. sales and marketing subsidiary, based in New Jersey, of Japan-based parent Sharp, is targeting September for a return to the U.S. market for Sharp-built and branded TVs, Peter Weedfald, senior vice president-sales and brand marketing, told us Friday. Weedfald outlined those plans following Sharp's crisp 62-word announcement Wednesday of a new partnership with Hisense.

Headset supplier Poly, which includes Plantronics, wants to exit the consumer business to stay “laser-focused” on its enterprise opportunity, said CEO Joseph Burton on a call Tuesday about the quarter ended March 31. It’s in the “very early days of thinking this through,” he said. Whether it sells the business in “a single transaction to a single buyer” or through “multiple transactions” or finds a joint venture partner, “all that's a little bit still in front of us,” he said. Consumer is roughly 8 percent of total revenue, he said. Poly is watching this week’s tariffs situation “like a hawk,” and is “uniquely positioned ... versus some of our competitors” to weather the storm if the third tranche of Chinese duties rise to 25 percent (see 1905080033), said Burton. It builds a “considerable number” of its products “in-house” in a factory it owns in Tijuana, Mexico, he said.

Headset supplier Poly, which includes Plantronics, will exit the consumer business to stay “laser-focused” on its enterprise opportunity, said CEO Joseph Burton on a Q1 earnings call Tuesday. Poly is in the “very early days of thinking this through,” he said. Whether it sells the business in “a single transaction to a single buyer” or through “multiple transactions” or finds a joint venture partner, “all that's a little bit still in front of us,” he said. Consumer is roughly 8 percent of total revenue, he said. The higher-end Voyager headset product line isn't for sale “at this time,” he said. Though they’re sold through retail, “they're really predominantly business headsets,” so “we really consider it part of enterprise,” he said. Poly is watching this week’s tariffs situation “like a hawk,” and is “uniquely positioned out there versus some of our competitors” to weather the storm if the Section 301 duties rise to 25 percent on Chinese imports, said Burton. Poly builds a “considerable number” of its products “in-house” in a factory it owns in Tijuana, Mexico, he said. It does have some products manufactured in China that would have tariff exposure, but “there's a third group of products where we have an additional set of contract manufacturers,” he said. “Our ability to rapidly move products between those three really gives us a competitive advantage that we think very few people have.” Depending on what happens, “we will lift and shift ahead of our competition,” he said. “We scenario-plan this every day based on the latest thinking,” but it’s “impossible to know” for now how much of a hit tariffs will bring to gross margin, he said.

Some firms have moved contract production out of China, even though the items they import were only subject to a 10 percent tariff, according to Meredith DeMent, a senior associate in the international commercial practice at Baker McKenzie. DeMent said she personally has seen more than 10 companies move at least some production to other countries. But, she said, many were thinking that their goods might return to Most Favored Nation tariff levels soon, because news reports suggested the U.S. and China were headed toward a deal that would at least have "a phased scaling back of the tariffs."

Even as it described the cloudy outlook for the new NAFTA's ratification, a new report from the American Council for Capital Formation's Center for Policy Research says policy makers should ratify the agreement, and not move toward a withdrawal from NAFTA.

After a day when the stock markets responded as if President Donald Trump's May 5 tweet about raising tariffs on Chinese goods was an empty threat, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told reporters from a number of national outlets that the new tariff rate -- jumping from the current 10 percent to 25 percent -- would take effect at 12:01 a.m. on May 10.

Mexican Ambassador to the U.S. Martha Barcena, speaking April 22 at the Georgetown Law School conference on U.S. ratification of the new NAFTA, implored: "We need USMCA not to be taken as a political hostage. We need USMCA to be taken in its own merits." She also said, "We should not let politics stand in the way of free trade that has yielded benefits for both of our societies."

The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices as of April 19 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):

Mexican Ambassador to the U.S. Martha Barcena, speaking April 22 at the Georgetown Law School conference on U.S. ratification of the new NAFTA, implored: "We need USMCA not to be taken as a political hostage. We need USMCA to be taken in its own merits." She also said, "We should not let politics stand in the way of free trade that has yielded benefits for both of our societies."