“Things have ground to a halt,” said Staph, chief executive of Duncan Toys Company, which has a warehouse in Indiana.
With his products now facing a steep 145 percent levy, “we stopped shipping goods into the US,” he added.
Nearly 100 days into President Donald Trump’s White House return, US businesses are scrambling to adjust to fast-changing trade policies.
The $40 billion toy industry, which heavily relies on production in China, is hard hit, companies tell AFP.
Of over $17 billion worth of toys imported to the US last year, more than $13 billion came from China.
Duncan’s entire product range is designed and developed in the United States, Staph said, but Chinese factories make almost all the toys.
Firms there have developed specialized abilities to produce intricate parts for items like its best-selling yo-yos.
Most American toy companies have halted shipments since Trump imposed new tariffs on many products from China this year, Staph said.
The move raised the duty that US firms pay when they import any Chinese-made toys — from plushies to action figures — from zero to 145 percent, more than doubling import costs.
“It’s pretty debilitating,” Staph added. “As a business leader, after 100 days of the administration, I’d say that the most challenging part is the uncertainty.”
“It’s tough to build any sort of strategy and go for a plan when we know that things are changing almost on a daily basis.”
Rita Pin Ahrens, who runs three toy stores including one in Washington, started receiving “tariff surcharges” of 15 percent to 25 percent in March. She expects them to mount to 145 percent.
Many of the thousands of toys she sells are either imported from places like China, or are partially made in the world’s second biggest economy.
Still, she said: “We’re trying to minimize the cost to our consumers.”
This has meant holding off purchases that become too pricey or stocking up before tariffs kicked in. And shipment delays have already begun.
“It has been a complete nightmare,” she said. “I am really, truly worried about whether we can actually sustain the store.”
Many US brands are small businesses with limited cashflow, said Greg Ahearn, chief executive of industry group The Toy Association.
They struggle to pay sudden tariffs on containers of toys that may have already been manufactured.
Meanwhile, “production of toys has all but stopped in China,” he said.
