Mattel, the major toy company responsible for Barbie, Matchbox, and Fisher Price to name a few, are having to hike their prices amid Trump's tariff woes.
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Take a look around wherever you're reading this right now, and see how many items are made in China. Everything from your phone case to the TV on your wall is imported from there. That's because they're well made, and significantly cheaper than domestic US products. This goes for almost all your kids' toys, too.
But, with the new tariffs Trump has imposed on imports, especially Chinese ones, companies are having to raise their prices. Many companies in the US relied on Chinese imports for their good. However, they will now have to pay 145% more for them. These costs, in turn, are passed on to the American public.
Toy company Mattel has now announced that they will have to hike the price of many of their toys. This comes after a drop in profits in the year. They are looking to source their toy manufacturing inside the US, but the infrastructure simply isn't there right now.
Mattel Calls For Zero tariff On Toys
Like many companies in the US now faced with massive import bills to pay, Mattel is asking for a waver of the Trump tariffs. Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz told Reuters, "many companies have stopped production and shipping to the U.S. as a result of tariffs from China. We do support the Toy Association's advocacy for zero tariffs on toys."
However, if Trump caved to every industry that has realized it is completely dependent on imports, without any domestic infrastructure to fall back on, all the tariffs would be ended in a day. For now, small companies will simply have to collapse, and the US public will have to dig deep and deal with huge price increases on everything from electronics to toys.
Mattel import around 20% of their goods from china, which have been hit hardest by the new tariffs. However, a significant amount of their toys are also imported from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. These countries are also subjected to the tariffs. This will do little to soften the price hike the toy company will have to impose on US citizens.
