The Street: Tariffs will devastate this entire industry

The toy market was worth $114.4 billion in 2024, according to a report from Research and Markets, and it’s forecasted to nearly double by 2034, reaching $203.1 billion.

However, the tariffs pose a roadblock to that plan. The reason is simple: nearly 80% of toys imported into the United States come from China. That leaves toymakers with some difficult options: absorb the costs of the imports, or pass them on to the consumer.

MGA Entertainment is the largest privately held toy manufacturer in the U.S. and is the brand behind many of the popular toys you see on store shelves, including Bratz, L.O.L. Surprise, and Little Tikes. But thanks to the tariffs, CEO Issac Larian is facing some hard decisions.

“Frankly, if these tariffs do not go away, we have no choice but to do layoffs,” he said in an interview with Retail Dive.

Large toy companies are being affected as well. Mattel announced in March that it would lay off about 35% of its manufacturing workforce. 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/tariffs-will-devastate-this-entire-industry/ar-AA1EfMvd

CNBC: Mattel CEO says toy manufacturing won’t come to America, but price hikes will

  • Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz told CNBC he does not foresee toy manufacturing coming to America.
  • Instead, the company expects to raise prices in the U.S. to offset President Donald Trump’s 145% tariff on Chinese imports.
  • By the end of the year, less than 40% of Mattel’s product will be sourced from China, with a goal of reducing that to below 25% in the next two years.

One of the goals of President Donald Trump‘s 145% tariffs against China is to drive manufacturing back to America. But the odds of that are low, at least when it comes to toys.

“We don’t see that happening,” Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Tuesday, less than a day after the company withdrew annual financial targets.

“We need to remember that a significant part of toy creation happens in America,” he said. “Design, development, product engineering, brand management all happens in America. Making product, producing product in other countries, allows us to create quality products at affordable price points.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/06/mattel-ceo-toy-manufacturing-trump-tariffs.html