'Would be heartbreaking': Retailers warn Trump could wreck next Christmas with toy tariffs
President-elect Donald Trump is vowing to slap heavy tariffs on all foreign-made goods once he reassumes the presidency next year, and some retailers are warning that could be bad news for children who are expecting their favorite toys next Christmas.
CBS News reports that The Toy Association, an industry organization, has found that nearly 80 percent of American toys are currently manufactured in China, which means that Trump's threat to slap massive tariffs on all goods produced in China could leave many parents struggling to afford presents by next December.
Jennifer Bergman, the owner of New York City's West Side Kids, tells CBS News that such massive tariffs on all China-imported goods would jack up prices "probably instantly" and she worried that such a shock would hurt her ability to stay in business.
"It would be heartbreaking," she said of the tariffs' potential impact. "It would be a real loss for the community. It would be a real loss for me. I can't really imagine not being here."
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The National Retail Federation claimed earlier this year that American consumers could lose nearly $80 billion in annual spending power should Trump follow through on his tariff threats, and the Toy Association said that the proposed Trump tariffs would be "significantly harmful" to their businesses.
Although Trump has stated that his goal is to return more manufacturing jobs to the United States, the massive tariffs on Chinese goods would initially do little to make this into a reality given that it would take years to rebuild the manufacturing infrastructure needed to produce such products domestically.