With Washington and Beijing locked in a standoff on trade, Outdoor Industry Association representatives last week urged members to reach out to their suppliers “to encourage the Chinese government to go to the (negotiating) table with the U.S.”

In a Sept. 13 member webinar, the trade group affirmed pricing and sourcing challenges for its members heading into the Fall19/Winter20 seasons and confirmed some vendors have already decided to raise prices ahead of expected increased tariffs while others have decided to absorb any new duty increases.

“These additional tariffs will hamper the (outdoor) industry and put some products out of reach to some customers,” said Rich Harper, OIA’s Manager of International Trade, pointing to higher tariffs on backpacks and sports bags. On the trade side, the OIA said additional tariffs will make it significantly more difficult for small and mid-size outdoor companies to compete.

Meanwhile, following a tweet last week by President Trump that said the U.S. was “under no pressure” to make a deal with China, the Chinese government was reportedly finalizing plans over the weekend to schedule a Washington visit by Vice Premier Liu He next week The caveat for those high-level talks—The U.S. not establishing a firm date for new tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports. A final list of those products is expected this week, and it may include some outdoor products. OIA representatives told webinar participants that it encouraged Congressional Republicans to work with the Trump Administration to remove those outdoor products from the list. With $50 billion in Chinese goods already facing additional 25 percent duties, new tariffs on the $200 billion worth of targeted products may be lowered to 10 percent.

Additionally, the U.S. now has less than two weeks to bring Canada into a new North American Free Trade agreement, according to a Sept. 30 deadline established by the administration. The U.S. wants its new trade pact with Mexico finalized before President-Elect André Obrador takes office on Dec. 1. There are no established trade negotiations between the U.S. and Canada this week.

The Anta Sports-FountainVest unsolicited $5.3 billion bid for Finnish-owned Amer Sports, if finalized by year-end, would create a $5.3 billion, publicly traded company and provide greater retail access for Amer Sports-owned brands such as Wilson Sports, Arc’teryx and Salomon, particularly in Asia. Additionally, it would provide the new parent with a sizeable footprint in the outdoor segment for growth across the region given 62 percent of Amer’s annual revenues, or $1.94 billion, were generated in the category last year. Ball Sports represented 24 percent ($759.6 mil.) of Amer’s FY17 revenues with Fitness accounted for 13 percent ($419.9 mil.).

Anta, an official partner of the Beijing 2022 Winter Games, celebrates its 25th anniversary and 12th year as a public company in 2019. While it markets a namesake shoe brand and owns daily shoe manufacturing capacity of 3,000 pairs using only 30 workers, the company’s aspiration is as a global company with a portfolio brands. An Amer Sports acquisition would take Anta a step closer to its objective.

The company licenses the Fila and Descente brands for distribution in China and owns a number of additional sport labels besides Anta in Kingkow, Sprandi and Kolon Sport. Between its licensed and owned brands, the company operated 11,253 single-brand stores across China and elsewhere in Asia in Fila’s case. An acquisition of Amer’s brand portfolio would accelerate Anta’s brand retail presence across Asia. That effort would spark Amer’s sales in region, which accounted for only 14.5 percent of its FY17 revenues, or $452.8 million, compared to 41.8 percent ($1.3 billion) in the Americas and 43.7 percent ($1.36 billion) in the EMEA. Conversely, with Amer in the fold, Anta would find stronger global distribution channels for its existing stable of brands outside of Asia.

For the six months ended June 30, Anta generated 44 percent topline growth to an estimated $1.54 billion and 34 percent improvement in profit to about $282.6 billion.

False ‘Made in USA’ claims were at the heart of recent Federal Trade Commission actions. Patriot Puck in Farmingdale, NY, which also does business as Underground Sports Inc., Hockey Underground and Ipuck Hockey, has agreed to stop making false ‘Made in USA’ claims for its products since virtually all of them are sourced in China. Also, the FTC has charged Sandpiper of California and PiperGear USA of falsely claiming in ads, promotional materials, product labels and on social media that their backpacks travel bags, wallets and other products are made in the U.S. In fact, 95 percent of Sandpiper’s products are imported as finished goods and 80 percent of PiperGear’s products are imported as finished goods or contain significant imported components.

Rossignol names Scott Rittschof, a bike industry veteran with prior experience at Cycling Sports Group and Pon Bicycle Group, as SVP of its global bike division. He will manage the Rossignol Group bike business that includes the Felt, Rossignol and Time brand. Following his appointment, the company announced the departure of Bill Duerhing,Co-founder and president of Felt.

United States Soccer League is initiating aleague-wide licensing program in the coming season headed by former MLS and Starter licensing veteran Stu Crystal. The effort will include all USL Division III clubs and will aim to streamline licenses for independent clubs. The initial efforts will focus on fan-facing categories such as apparel, accessories and novelties with opportunities to partner with industry-leading licensees in each category.