NAMM president testifies in Washington on what tariffs are doing to music instrument access

NAMM president and CEO John Mlynczak delivered oral testimony before the Office of the United States Trade Representative on 8 May, making the industry’s case against tariff policies that have already pushed wind instrument imports down 27% and piano imports down 20% in 2025.

The testimony came before the USTR’s Section 301 Committee in Washington, D.C., as part of a structured hearing in which 151 associations and companies were selected to speak. NAMM joined the Consumer Technology Association, Consumer Brands Association, and United Auto Workers Association, among others selected from 811 written comments submitted.

What NAMM argued

Mlynczak’s central argument was that tariff increases do not produce domestic manufacturing alternatives for musical instruments. “Tariffs will not shift purchases to US-made beginner instruments,” he says. “Instead, they will price beginners out of the market, which will hurt the American students, retailers, and manufacturers that depend on today’s students becoming tomorrow’s customers.”

NAMM represents more than 10,000 companies in a U.S. music products market worth $9 billion of a $19.5 billion global total. The organisation’s position is that the global supply chain for musical instruments depends on specialised materials and craftsmanship built up over generations — and that simply imposing tariffs does not create domestic capacity to replace it. Tariffs, in NAMM’s framing, increase costs for American manufacturers while giving foreign competitors pricing advantages in the U.S. market.

The actions under scrutiny relate to Section 301 investigations into 16 countries concerning structural excess capacity and production. NAMM submitted written comments on 15 April before being selected to provide in-person testimony. It also delivered oral testimony on 28 April ahead of the 8 May hearing.

What comes next

Following hearings from 5–8 May, USTR is expected to propose specific remedies, which will trigger a second public comment period. NAMM’s formal request is for an exclusion process for musical instruments, components, and materials under HTS Chapter 92 should tariffs be recommended. The organisation says it will notify members when the next comment window opens.

For producers and DJs, the downstream effect of these tariffs is already being felt in hardware pricing. How manufacturers absorb or pass on those costs across product lines is still playing out.