Two dolls instead of 30? Toys become the latest symbol of Trump’s trade war

By ANNE D INNOCENZIO and DIDI TANG NEW YORK AP President Donald Trump s tariffs crusade has taken aim at a number of foreign goods from European wines and car parts from Mexico to films made abroad Lately the president s wandering ire has discovered another rhetorical poster child toy dolls Trump asserted that children will be fine having two dolls perhaps three or five instead of if U S import taxes increase consumer prices The response on social media included memes of him portrayed as the Grinch and photos of a young Barron Trump s child-sized Mercedes convertible THOROUGHLY out of touch The Loyal Subjects CEO Jonathan Cathey whose collectible toy company in Los Angeles produces Strawberry Shortcake and Rainbow Brite dolls wrote on Linkedin If that ain t a Let them eat cake moment shot through the echoes of history Love how toys and dolls have become THE martyr metaphor for this nonsensical agreement war incoherence The president s comments also touched a nerve with parents both ones who took offense at the casual way he hypothesized that perhaps two dolls will cost a couple bucks more and those who acknowledged their own kids have more toys than they need Either way the U S toy industry has a lot riding on a practicable deescalation of the tariff standoff between the Trump administration and the governing body in Beijing Nearly of the toys sold in the U S come from China The Toy Association a deal group has lobbied for an immediate reprieve from the tariff rate the president put on Chinese-made products Specific toy companies warn the likelihood of holiday shortages increases each week the tariff remains in effect President Donald Trump listens during a cabinet meeting at the White House Wednesday April in Washington AP Photo Evan Vucci FILE -Dolls are packed in a carton at the Yiwu International Exchange Industry in Yiwu eastern China s Zhejiang province Thursday April AP Photo Ng Han Guan File President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House Wednesday April in Washington AP Photo Evan Vucci Show Caption of President Donald Trump listens during a cabinet meeting at the White House Wednesday April in Washington AP Photo Evan Vucci Expand Here s a snapshot of the doll debate and how tariffs are impacting toys How much is the US doll arena worth From Barbie Bratz and Cabbage Patch Kids to Adora baby dolls American Girl and Our Generation dolls are a big business in the U S as well as beloved playthings The doll category which includes accessories like clothes generated U S sales of billion last year compared to billion in and billion in according to region research firm Circana Consumers splurged on toys during the height of the COVID pandemic to keep children and themselves occupied but sales flattened as inflation seized the market Younger girls becoming more interested in buying makeup and skincare also has cooled the demand for dolls Marshal Cohen Circana s chief retail advisor explained What are toy companies doing to tackle tariffs The nation s largest toy maker Mattel announced this week it would have to raise prices for specific products sold in the U S to offset higher costs related to tariffs The company whose brands include Barbie and American Girl announced the increases were necessary even though it s speeding up the expansion of its manufacturing base outside of China Related Articles Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden fired by President Trump How Google became the internet giant at the center of a authorities crackdown David Souter dies a Republican who became a liberal darling as Supreme Court justice Lawmakers slam plan to use Bay Area military site for immigration detention facility Chabria Trump s Alcatraz fantasy reveals his nostalgia for unrestrained policing Smaller toy companies are expected to have a harder time than Mattel and Hasbro which makes the eating drinking and diaper-wetting Baby Alive Cathey disclosed he paused The Loyal Subjects shipments from China in April because he couldn t pay the stratospheric tariff they would have incurred Nobody insulates themselves with that much cash he declared With about four months worth of inventory on hand Cathey reported his ability to secure holiday stock depends on a break in the U S -China business standoff happening in the next two weeks since it would take time for cargo operations to resume Cepia a Missouri company that was behind the holiday season hit Zhu Zhu Pets launched a line of -inch fashion dolls called Decora Girlz last year CEO James Russell Hornsby stated he was working to relocate selected production but the move won t happen in time to replace the orders he planned to get from China Hornsby described himself as a Trump supporter and revealed he understands the administration s desire to reduce business imbalances Let s just get the deals done and stop all this because Trump s disrupting Christmas he declared What goes into making a doll Although American Girl launched in with a line based on fictional historical characters the dolls never were domestic products They were made in Germany before production eventually moved to China Toy experts say that in addition to lower costs Chinese factories have developed techniques and expertise that are not easily replicated We don t have any quota in the U S to make rooted doll hair And then you ve got things like the faces Selected of them are hand-painted others are done with a Tampo printing machine James Zahn editor-in-chief of industry publication The Toy Book explained of doll-making Hornsby mentioned rooting the synthetic hair onto the heads of Decora Girlz dolls is carried out by skilled workers at factories in Guangzhou and Dongguan China It s not just sticking into a machine and it automatically does it he mentioned You have to know what you re doing in order to make that doll look like it s got a full set of hair when literally maybe only of the head is filled with hair Are toys from China safe White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller noted last week that he assumes consumers would prefer to pay more for American-made products Dolls made in China might have lead paint in them he revealed Teresa Murray consumer watchdog director at the U S Masses Interest Research Group reported the picture is more complicated Products for children ages and under require third-party testing and certification from labs approved by the U S Consumer Product Safety Commission the agency tasked with enforcing lead levels in toys Murray commented The rules apply to all products sold in the U S Toys by major brands such as Fisher-Price Mattel Hasbro and Lego which have long outsourced manufacturing to China are usually in compliance she mentioned But the rise of online shopping including e-commerce platforms that ship directly to U S consumers from overseas has posed a challenge according to Murray When valued at less than such parcels entered the U S duty-free and were not subject to the same scrutiny as bulk imports she announced The White House eliminated the customs exemption starting May for low-value parcels that originated in mainland China and Hong Kong U S Customs and Demarcation Protection expects additional oversight will make it easier to flag problems Toy companies and industry experts argue the high tariffs on Chinese imports will tempt price-sensitive shoppers to search for cheap counterfeit toys that carry higher safety risks Can children have too numerous dolls Plenty of people agree American consumer way of life has gotten out of hand in large part due to prices kept low through the labor of foreign factory workers who earn much less than they would in the U S Katie Walley-Wiegert a senior marketer in Richmond Virginia and the parent of a -year-old son agrees there s too much materialism but thinks parents should have choices when deciding what is best for their children She determined the wealthy Trump s comments off-putting I think it is a small view of what purchase habits and realities are for people who buy toys for kids Walley-Wiegert mentioned San Francisco resident Elenor Mak who founded the Jilly Bing doll company after she couldn t find an Asian American doll for her daughter Jillian now stated the president s remarks upset her because particular families struggle to buy even one doll The contract war with China just makes it even more impossible for those families Mak disclosed