US president Donald Trump has threatened a steep 100% tariff on Mattel, the maker of Barbie dolls, after the company said it would continue producing toys overseas despite plans to reduce reliance on Chinese imports. Speaking from the Oval Office last week Trump responded sharply to Mattel’s recent decision to maintain offshore production. “I’ve heard Mattel said, ‘Well, we’re going to go counter, we’re going to try going someplace else. Let him go,” he said of Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz. “We’ll put a 100% tariff on his toys, and he won’t sell one toy in the United States, and that’s their biggest market.” Mattel recently announced a “pricing action” in its US business, blaming changes in global trade policy and tariffs. During its first-quarter earnings call, Kreiz explained that the firm was moving away from China as a manufacturing hub, but not bringing operations back to the US. He cited cost-efficiency and productivity in other countries as reasons for keeping production abroad.
Toymakers are increasingly worried about the effects of Trump’s trade policy. With roughly 80% of global toy production based in China, industry leaders have urged the administration to exempt toys from tariffs. The Toy Association warned of serious disruptions and higher prices. Trump, however, brushed off those concerns, saying that girls don’t need many dolls. During an interview he said, “I don’t think that a beautiful baby girl needs—that’s 11 years old—needs to have 30 dolls. I think they can have three dolls or four dolls because what we were doing with China was just unbelievable. We had a trade deficit of hundreds of billions of dollars with China.”Reacting to the price hikes and similar moves by carmaker Ford, Trump said, “I think they’re just saying that to negotiate deals with me.”
