Popular toys like Barbies, Hot Wheels and more might get more expensive this year due to tariffs, parent company Mattel revealed in a Monday press release.
“The company is operating in an uncertain macro-economic environment with significant volatility, including changes in global trade policy and U.S. tariff,” it said. “Although tariffs did not affect Mattel’s first quarter financial results, the company is taking mitigating actions designed to fully offset the potential incremental cost impact of tariffs on future performance.”
One of those actions described as: “Where necessary, taking pricing action in its U.S. business.”
Others included supply chain diversification to reduce reliance on products sourced from China and “optimizing product sourcing and product mix.” Furthermore, the company said, due to that the volatile economic environment, Mattel is pausing its full guidance for this year. It is not yet clear how holiday shopping and overall consumer spending might be impacted by the tariffs.
“Given the evolving tariff situation, we are taking mitigating actions designed to fully offset the potential incremental cost impact,” said Mattel CEO Anthony DiSilvestro. “We are well positioned financially with ample cash and will continue to manage our balance sheet in line with our capital allocation priorities.”
CNN Business reported this week that prices for some Mattel items might already be on the rise.
“According to a product pricing analysis from Telsey Advisory Group, a Barbie doll with swimsuit sold at Target rose 42.9% over a week in mid-April to $14.99. That’s among the largest jumps the consumer research firm tracked,” said the outlet.
President Donald Trump has announced numerous tariffs as part of his economic plan, and has said that the aim of charging these fees on goods imported into the country should help create more jobs in the U.S., reduce trade deficits and help crack down on illicit fentanyl trafficking.
However, experts are skeptical of the approach.
Trump has acknowledged that tariffs might cause some pain before these benefits kick in, and he has used the example of children’s dolls – one of Mattel’s most well-known products. This Monday, CNBC reported that Trump used this example once again when speaking with reporters aboard Air Force One.
“All I’m saying is that a young lady, a 10-year-old-girl, 9-year-old girl, 15-year-old-girl, doesn’t need 37 dolls,” said the president, per the report. Trump added that they should be “very happy with two or three or four or five.”
That’s not the first time that Trump or his administration has brushed off economic concerns related to his new policies. In March, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, a billionaire, said that a missed Social Security payment wouldn’t phase his mother in law. At the same time, nearly four in 10 adults aged 65 and older would have incomes below the federal poverty line without their Social Security benefits, according to estimates based on the U.S. Census Bureau’s March 2023 Current Population Survey, as analyzed by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
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CNBC reported Tuesday that the U.S. was in an export slump. Citing trade tracker Vizion, the outlet said there was a slide in U.S.
exports, based on U.S. export container bookings for the five-week period before the tariffs began and the five weeks after the tariffs took effect. Bloomberg also reported Tuesday that the US trade deficit widened by 14% to a record $140.5 billion in March “as companies rushed to import products including pharmaceuticals as the Trump administration readied sweeping tariffs.”
On the other hand, The Wall Street Journal did report on Sunday that the tariffs giving boosts to some American factories seeing an uptick in orders. Trump also seems to be dedicated to the tariff plan, posting Sunday on Truth Social that he plans to put a tariff on movies coming into the U.S. from foreign countries.
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