Protect School Music Programs from New Instrument Tariffs

I urge Congress to protect students and school music programs from proposed tariffs on brass musical instruments, parts, and accessories. The U.S. Department of Commerce is considering expanding Section 232 tariffs on steel, aluminum, and copper derivative products to include brass wind instruments and related parts. If these products are subjected to additional tariffs, the cost will ultimately be borne by American schools, music programs, families, students, and musicians. For school music programs already operating on limited budgets, even modest increases in the cost of instruments can have a significant impact. Trumpets, trombones, French horns, tubas, euphoniums, and other brass instruments are not luxury goods for the students who use them. They are essential educational tools. Higher instrument prices can mean fewer instruments available for students, longer replacement cycles for aging school-owned instruments, increased repair costs, and greater financial barriers for families trying to participate in band and music programs. Music education provides students with opportunities to develop discipline, creativity, teamwork, confidence, and a lifelong appreciation for the arts. Access to those opportunities should not depend on whether a family can afford an increasingly expensive instrument or whether a school district can absorb another increase in equipment costs. Whatever one’s broader views on tariffs and American trade policy, musical instruments used in our schools should not become unintended casualties of policies intended to protect strategically important American industries. I respectfully urge my members of Congress to contact the Department of Commerce and the Administration and advocate for brass musical instruments, parts, and accessories to be excluded from these proposed tariffs. I also ask Congress to consider legislative action, if necessary, to protect school music programs and ensure that federal trade policy does not make music education less accessible to American students. Please stand with students, educators, school bands, and music programs across the country and help keep musical instruments affordable and accessible.