Santa may be ready for this year's holiday season, but 2025 could require more cash.
At least that's the warning from toy companies that depend on manufacturing in China and other international locations if President-elect Donald Trump moves ahead with threats to increase tariffs on imported items, NPR reports.
Public radio visited a toy trade show in Orlando, Fla., in November and it found that the hottest discussion in town was on trade policy.
"All anybody was talking about was tariffs," says Jay Foreman, CEO of the Boca Raton, Fla.-based toy company Basic Fun, told NPR. "We know that if tariffs hit, that prices are going to go up and it's going to affect the consumer. And so we're absolutely in panic mode in our industry."
The Toy Industry Association has scheduled a "Call to Action Meeting" for Dec. 17 to update its members on "the threat of significantly harmful tariffs potentially being placed on toys manufactured outside of the U.S., including China, Mexico and Canada."
It is urging toymakers to contact their representatives in Congress for a united fight against an increase in tariffs.
About 90 percent of the toys sold in the U.S. are imported. Big fees on foreign-made toys aren't necessarily a winning business strategy for American-made toys, though.
American Plastic Toys Inc. of Walled Lake, Mich., with injection molding in Walled Lake and Rose City, Mich., and Olive Branch, Miss., is focused on its niche of being a local producer that can respond quickly to market demands.
"We've been making toys since 1962," American Plastic Toys President John Gessert told NPR. "If we had designed a business model based on tariffs being in place, we wouldn't have been in business this long."