A transatlantic pact has been formed between trade associations to work to overcome the heavy import tariffs on amusement games.
US-made games going into the European Union have been hit with a 25 per cent duty as a result of a quarrel between the US and the EU over government support for aircrafts Boeing in the US and Airbus in Europe.
A number of products including pinball machines and other arcade amusement games are all affected by the EU tariff.
The UK, in the throes of leaving the EU, but the manufacturing source of Airbus wings, has announced that it will suspend retaliatory tariffs from January 21. But the tax remains in the rest of the EU.
Now the American Amusement Machine Association, with its members already badly hit by the impact of Covid-19, has linked up with the UK’s BACTA and the European federation of trade associations, Euromat, to help advocate for the industry in Europe while the AAMA does the same in the US.
The AAMA plans to take the matter up with the new Biden administration in Washington, campaigning on an argument that the "debilitating tariffs are negatively impacting the myriad of small businesses that make up the US amusement game industry."
