Every day in my shop, I see what bicycles mean to American families. Parents come in to buy their child’s first bike. Older riders discover the joy and independence an e-bike gives them.
Bikes aren’t luxury goods — they’re tools for mobility, health and community. That’s why I’m deeply concerned about the proposal to add bicycles, bicycle frames and e-bikes to the Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs.
On paper, the intent is to strengthen America’s metals industry. In reality, these tariffs would do nothing to support U.S. steel or aluminum production, but they would damage thousands of small businesses like mine and put American jobs at risk.
Section 232 is a legitimate tool to bolster American national security by ensuring a domestic manufacturing base for key strategic national security materials and products. Unfortunately, bicycles, bicycle frames and e-bikes simply do not fall under any standard definition of national security and neither does the steel or aluminum that goes into them.
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Since the steel and aluminum that is used for many bicycles, frames and e-bikes is specialized, domestic steel and aluminum manufacturers do not produce it in the relatively smaller order sizes that the bicycle industry needs, if they produce it at all. As a result, much of the modern bicycle industry relies primarily on steel and aluminum produced overseas.
Instead, the backbone of the American bicycle industry today is made up of over 8,000 local retailers across the country — shops like mine — along with the U.S.-based assemblers we depend on. Americans spend nearly $100 billion each year on bicycles, gear and recreation. The cycling sector supports 770,000 jobs nationwide and generates $12 billion in tax revenue, according to an industry analysis.
This is a vibrant American economic ecosystem, and it is already under tremendous pressure from inflation, declining post-pandemic demand and high existing tariffs. We already face some of the highest tariffs in the consumer market, and bicycles — particularly children’s bikes — already face some of the highest import duties of any consumer product in America. When you add everything up, effective tariff rates on bicycles now range from 31% to 66%, depending on the country of origin.
Electric bicycles face tariffs between 20% and 55%, and the steel components of e-bikes were just added to Section 232, increasing costs even further. Any retailer will tell you: people simply won’t buy bikes if prices climb much higher. In our industry, a 20% increase in price leads to a 20% drop in sales. It’s practically a law of physics.
Local bike shops and affordable children’s bicycles, the biggest segment of our industry, are particularly vulnerable. Raising prices on kids’ bikes by 15% to 20% because of new tariffs won’t lead to new American frame factories. It will lead to parents walking away from the purchase and more local bike shops going out of business. I’ve already watched too many colleagues shutter their stores over the past few years. These are family-run shops that support local events, donate to community programs and give teenagers their first jobs. When they close, the community loses far more than a place to buy a bike.
If policymakers want to strengthen the U.S. bicycle industry and support American jobs, small businesses and healthy communities, the answer isn’t higher tariffs. It’s targeted relief, incentives for reshoring and policies that help families afford bikes, not price them out. From where I stand — behind the counter of my small shop, helping families find the bikes they love — the answer is clear. We don’t need more tariffs. We need smarter trade policy that strengthens our businesses, supports American workers and keeps people riding.
Chad Plumlee is the owner of Cadence Cyclery Wattage Coffee Co. in McKinney.
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