As a content creator, I do contract work for toy companies, and these tariffs are going to hit both businesses and customers hard. I also collaborate with companies that manufacture their products in the U.S., but rely on imported materials—so even they aren’t immune. Prices will rise across the board.

The most frustrating part is that these policies are being used to help subsidize massive tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy. I’m tired of people pretending this is some brilliant “4D chess” strategy by the federal government when, in reality, it just hurts everyday people. Sure, maybe this plan could pay off over the span of a decade, but the rollout has been poorly executed and completely short-sighted.

Sometimes I have an inside view of select industries and I am going to start sharing what I see happening here. Most likely it will be boring information, but I promise to add in some memes like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles showing their stance on tariffs or Spider-Man as a lawyer.

To give you an insiders look the CEO of Big Bad Toy Store left a note for its customers. It is extremely professional and well written. The note does an excellent job explaining the impact the tariffs are having on small businesses and US consumers:

Hi Everyone,  

I’m writing to share with you how we are working to handle the rapidly escalating tariff situation. I want to be transparent and honest with you about the impacts of these tariffs. This is a complex situation so I apologize upfront for the length of my note, but I feel it is important to be as clear as possible in this difficult time.

Tariffs – What Just Happened For 25 years, we have operated as a family-owned business under a 0% tariff rate. Several months ago a 10% tariff was enacted for goods made in China. It was then doubled to 20%. In April a 34% tariff was added to the total, bringing us to 54%. Last night another 50% was added, and today (April 9th) an additional 21% was added, bringing us to 125% total tariffs on Chinese goods. Vietnam was to be subject to a 46% tariff, but it appears that this has been reduced to 10% for the next 90 days. These two countries manufacture 90% of the goods that we sell.

What is the Impact This unfortunately is going to result in retail price increases on products impacted by the tariffs, including new and open pre-orders. We are working hard to minimize these increases through discussions with our vendors, deploying the most efficient importing processes, and ultimately sharing directly in the financial pain. I’m heartbroken to have to do this, and I hate this tariff situation: it is ridiculous, poorly thought out, poorly implemented, cruel and punishing to everyone involved in affected countries and at every level of our industry.

Who Pays Tariffs Tariffs are a tax on the US consumer. Foreign governments do NOT pay these tariffs. The US based companies who import these goods are directly responsible for paying the tariffs. And ultimately, the US based consumer pays for them through higher product prices. We are devastated that it has come to this, and we will continue to work hard to minimize the impact to you.

When and How will Prices Change In the past month we have raised prices in a manner that was inclusive of expected tariffs, while also honoring previously pre-ordered prices. Unfortunately, the dramatic increases in tariff levels has now made this approach impossible.

To minimize confusion during this rapidly changing situation, we will be changing newly affected pre-order product listings to reflect our normal, non-tariff-based price. We will also add a notice indicating that a tariff surcharge will be added at the time of the product’s arrival. We will inform you of the full amount before your payment method is charged. You will also be able to cancel your pre-order at that time if the surcharge amount is something you do not wish to pay. Our customer service team, as always, will be ready to help with any issues that arise from this situation, and we will be very flexible given the circumstances. Today, we expect the surcharge may be between 15% to 40% of the pre-order price, however that could change as the situation continues to unfold. Please note that any items currently In Stock are not subject to the tariff.

We are working as fast as we can to make these changes clear on our site, but it will take us time. We have over 10,000 items listed for pre-order currently, and it is going to take us time to work through how each vendor will respond to their specific tariff situation. Our supply chain is complex and we have hundreds of vendors. The timing of when a particular tariff is applied will depend on a variety of factors including import shipping dates and any new rules set by the government.

Finally I absolutely hate increasing prices to you, but the tariff situation is beyond our control. If tariffs are reduced or removed, we will reduce or remove the tariff surcharges on orders accordingly. My pledge to you is that we will be fair, and we will share the pain of this. I assure you we are already feeling significant economic and business disruption pain from these tariffs. We will continue to work hard to serve you with the quality and customer service level you expect as we navigate through this difficult time.

I want to thank you deeply for all the trust and loyalty that you have placed in BBTS with your collecting passion. Whether you have recently joined our family or have been with us for years, we truly value our relationship with you and will do our best to continue to earn your trust every day.

Sincerely,

Joel Boblit

Big Bad Toy Store

Founder and President

Reduction in staff is a direct result of the tariffs

I also have captured some photos of toys created by Super7 and they are a great group of people and the CEO Brian Flynn posted a message to Instagram on May 20, 2025.

To Our Valued Super7 Supporters,

Last week was really hard.

As you may have heard, we had to make the difficult decision to let team members go. These are people who were doing the best work in the industry, none of whom deserved to be let go. I want to be clear that this reduction in staff is a direct result of the tariffs applied to our industry. The preceding six months before the tariff announcement had been Super7’s best since the inception of the company nearly 24 years ago. Then the landscape changed overnight.

Make no mistake, the tariff is a tax on American companies and the American consumer. The people who lost their jobs last week were Americans across 16 different states. The 145% tariff effectively shut our business down, bringing new inventory leaving the factory to zero, compounded by massive tariffs on pre-order product already on the water headed to consumers. This week’s change in tariff to 30%, is still a massive increase to this industry that requires significant change to work within.

So what does that mean for Super7? Well, it means we need to be smaller and focus on the core of our business while being very specific about what we make. This allows Super7 to be safe for the future and continue to deliver the awesome product we are known for.

We still believe in the joy that making toys brings to all of us. We believe that the future will be better, and we look forward to continuing to deliver on that joy for the future. We hope to see you there with us.

We are going to need new heros that fight billionaires and white collar crime. Perhaps Spider-Man wants to be a lawyer and team up with Bill Burr?