I read 1984… I really liked it but I thought the whole war is peace, freedom is slavery bit was something that no one would really buy. Then Trump took office and I feel like I’m taking crazy pills. I now believe 1984 and don’t question it at all. :(
I’m not really pro-china on much of anything but I agree with them on this. Trump’s tariff’s are bullshit and he should be called out on them.
Most (all?) of the board game manufacturing is done in China. The equipment to make the boards is all made in China. Even if manufacturers wanted to manufacture in the US or elsewhere, they would have to import the equipment in from China which would be subject to tariffs and be a significant up front cost.
A lot of manufacturers have come out and said this will be bad for the industry as a whole. Underdog games is already having layoffs, Final Frontier Games is shutting down and is blaming CMON as the final nail in the coffin. I don’t think they were doing well in the first place but I’m sure tariffs didn’t help.
Sleeve Kings has an interesting article on the tariffs which claim 70% of their business is US based and 100% of their manufacturing is done in China. Their tariffs went from 0% in December to currently 104%. Stonemaier games has a good article called The Math of Tariffs which outlines a lot of issues. Cephalofair Games has a good article on backerkit titled Tariffs & Tabletop.
There’s so many articles like this, I could go on but I think you get the point. The US is a huge market and costs in the US are going to rise or people aren’t even going to try. A lot of board games are already expensive, slap a tariff on them and they are out of reach for a lot of people and they will look elsewhere. And all this is just on manufacturing, this isn’t even starting on what’s going on with local retailers.
This will also affect people outside of the US because the US is such a huge market. I think initially you might see shipments destined for the US go elsewhere to avoid the tariffs but then things will start to dry up.
I hope these tariffs go away but if they don’t, I think you’ll see the used market increase. Personally I have a big wall of shame so I have a bunch of games I’ve never played so sitting out the next 4 years shouldn’t be a problem for me but I don’t think I’ll like what happens on the other side of things.
Taco Tuesday… on a Wednesday!