Tabletop companies are waiting for the ship to come in on tariffs

Trump’s long-threatened tariffs went into effect yesterday, not only slapping a 25% burden on goods entering the US from Canada and Mexico but also doubling Chinese tariffs to 20%. Nothing less than economic mobster behavior, the tariffs immediately kicked off trade wars with the country’s contiguous neighbors. It also pushed the stock market into a still-worsening nosedive and quickly obliterated all of Trump’s gains since taking office in January.

The question of how tariffs will affect the tabletop industry clung to the recent GAMA trade show like an onset cold. Everyone could feel it; most attempted to convince themselves — and nearby journalists — that they would ride out the worst symptoms. Mythworks’ co-owner Ray Chou, chatting with Rascal at GAMA, was not interested in downplaying the risks. Fresh off a record year of success thanks to The Wildsea and Slugblaster, the small publisher was already bracing for a hit nobody can accurately predict.

“It’s very hard to say how much it’s going to affect us right now. Before Trump took office, we heard estimates as high as 50% and all the way down to 10%, 15%, a whole range of numbers,” Chou said. “People are already talking about certain exceptions to it, but they’re also talking about how it's cumulative on top of your freight. We won’t know the final cost until the boat comes, and that’s scary.”