Today, TechFreedom filed comments with the Department of Commerce on proposed duties on additional aluminum, steel, and copper derivative articles. TechFreedom focuses on the proposed 25% duty on “brass-wind musical instruments and their parts and accessories,” and strongly urges the Department to drop this category from the new duty list.

“The amount of strategic metals contained in brass wind instruments is infinitesimal when compared to the other categories of products listed in the Request for Comment,” said TechFreedom Senior Counsel Jim Dunstan. “There are fourteen categories of products to which a 25% duty will be attached. Some of those items are quite large and are made up of large quantities of the strategic metals. However, brass wind instruments account for a tiny fraction of imported strategic metals—roughly 5,000 times less by weight than semi-trailers—making their inclusion in the proposed duties a drop in the bucket compared with other categories. If the goal of these duties is to protect strategic metals, sweeping in brass wind instruments misses a beat.”

“Duties imposed on brass wind instruments will backfire, ultimately destroying domestic production,” Dunstan continued. “Rather than advancing the goal of spurring domestic production using strategic metals, the duty will do the opposite, disrupting domestic production of brass wind instruments by drying up the market for higher-end instruments produced domestically. American manufacturers of brass instruments compete on quality, not price, and focus on higher end instruments. Impose duties on imported beginner brass instruments, and parents and children will switch to non-tariffed instruments like woodwinds and percussion, quickly drying up the market for upgraded instruments.”

“The ultimate impact of these duties could be the dumbing down of an entire generation,” Dunstan continued. “Studies show that students who continue music education through high school score an average of 100 points higher on the SAT than those students without music education. Making the path harder and more expensive for children will result in fewer children gaining the benefits of a music education. We impose these duties at our own peril.”

This issue hits particularly home for TechFreedom’s Jim Dunstan, who plays French horn in the Fairfax Wind Symphony and served as band booster president for his daughters’ high school bands in Fairfax, Virginia.

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About TechFreedom: TechFreedom is a nonprofit, nonpartisan technology policy think tank. We work to chart a path forward for policymakers towards a bright future where technology enhances freedom, and freedom enhances technology.

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