Mattel CEO Confirms Toy Manufacturing Would Not Come to the US Even if Tariffs Remain

Obviously because slave labour isn't available in the US. What a stupid idea these people have about manufacturing returning here. We outsourced everything, no way its coming back. These greedy companies will simply make us pay the difference rather than pay people fair wages.

gr1ml0ck wrote:Obviously because slave labour isn't available in the US. What a stupid idea these people have about manufacturing returning here. We outsourced everything, no way its coming back. These greedy companies will simply make us pay the difference rather than pay people fair wages.

It's not slave wages. The wages they are being paid are a living wage in those countries. We've come a long ways since the pre-80s and 90s when Nikes were being sewn together by kids in dirt floor shacks. These factories now offer incentives like food, housing, transportation and healthcare, and the facilities are being inspected by human rights watch dogs. I hear the same complaints from US tech industry opponents which is ridiculous when they require clean, if not sterile, conditions. There's any number of videos from inside toy factories in China, these aren't sweatshops. You want to talk about slave wages, our government doesn't even offer living wages for crying out loud, inflation outpaced minimum wage long ago, more US factories isn't going to change that! Federal minimum wage in 1968 would be worth more than $12 right now in 2025 when the federal minim wage is only $7.25. 21 states have state minimum wages tied to the federal rate. Bet I can guess which states will be getting factories!

What Trump and his cronies want to do is move manufacturing to the US is automate it, this has nothing to do with American jobs. You can't automate toy manufacturing, it's impossible, you can't make a specific machine for every toy ever made unless it's something very simple and timeless. Every action figure and doll is hand assembled and hand painted, lots of hands touch every single one of them down the assembly line. This isn't a cheap process. All that will happen with high Chinese tariffs is companies will just find a new low tariff, low living wage country to move to and it wont be the US.

Emerje

I'm long, long past giving them the benefit of doubt on anything.


Re domestic manufacturing: Another factor that doesn't get mentioned as much, alongside costs, is long-term stability. Bluntly, even if US vs China manufacturing costs temporarily work out in the light of +145% tariffs (they don't, but assume arguendo), nobody is going to spend millions-to-billions of dollars setting up new US manufacturing capacity based on what Trump says today when they know full well that he might say something completely different tomorrow, and his tariffs will almost certainly not outlive him / his term (whichever comes first - as soon as Trump himself is out of the picture, expect Congress to suddenly remember "oh yeah, the President doesn't actually have the authority to do any of this").

So when people wonder why toy companies aren't speaking out to Trump about the tariffs, know this: Aside from Trump calling Mattel a "country" when he probably meant "company", when Mattel said they'd move production out of China to another country other than the US Trump said he'd put a 100% tariff on Mattel and Mattel alone so they can't sell toys in the US ever again. That's the sort of abuse of power the industry is facing right now. He also continues to push the lie that consumers don't pay tariffs.

About 54:12

Emerje

Glyph wrote:I'm long, long past giving them the benefit of doubt on anything.


Re domestic manufacturing: Another factor that doesn't get mentioned as much, alongside costs, is long-term stability. Bluntly, even if US vs China manufacturing costs temporarily work out in the light of +145% tariffs (they don't, but assume arguendo), nobody is going to spend millions-to-billions of dollars setting up new US manufacturing capacity based on what Trump says today when they know full well that he might say something completely different tomorrow, and his tariffs will almost certainly not outlive him / his term (whichever comes first - as soon as Trump himself is out of the picture, expect Congress to suddenly remember "oh yeah, the President doesn't actually have the authority to do any of this").

This. All of this.

Over night it was announced that Chinese tariffs will be reduced to 30% this week. Still too much, but it's not so much that I have to cancel an order this month that I've been fretting about. Not crazy about the extra $60 but it's still cheaper than most retailers.

megatran wrote:Hasbro Pulse US is showing prices again for pre-orders?
Prices haven't changed?
Am I reading this right?

Everything is "temporarily unavailable" including a lot of in stock stuff.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:Over night it was announced that Chinese tariffs will be reduced to 30% this week. Still too much, but it's not so much that I have to cancel an order this month that I've been fretting about. Not crazy about the extra $60 but it's still cheaper than most retailers.

megatran wrote:Hasbro Pulse US is showing prices again for pre-orders?
Prices haven't changed?
Am I reading this right?

Everything is "temporarily unavailable" including a lot of in stock stuff.

Emerje

Thanks for the clarification re Hasbro Pulse US site.

The 30% tariff includes the pre-recipricpl tariff 20%. So effectively 10% since Trump 2nd term. China has also temporarily reduced their tit for tat tariff to 10% for 90 days while the hot mess is worked out.

I want to thank this site for allowing mature conversation on this topic. I know other US TF sites wave the ban stick just mere mentioning the T word.

The US and China have confirmed the tariff rate of 30% for the next 3 months for imports from China. And now Gamestop has unveiled their latest prices on preorders, which are around 30% higher than last week.
Here are the current prices on preorders:

Deluxes: 31.99 (28% increase from MSRP)
Commanders 119.99 (33% increase from MSRP)
Titan Star Optimus Prime 209.99 (40% increase from MSRP)

At the moment of writing, Entertainment Earth still has the 10% prices increase as opposed to the full 30% while Hasbro Pulse has all their preorders as unavailable.

Also, it is important to note that the 30% tariffs only apply to businesses. Individuals ordering from China now have an additional tax rate of 54% for imports (with a max of $100)

I'm probably stating the obvious, Gamestop is gauging in price. 30% tariff (up from existing 20%) doesn't necessarily translate to +30% MSRP.

Wonder if others will follow.

I do not trust that amazon.com will honor the price of the preorders that I made. So I cancelled everything.