Recently, the United States adjusted US trade tariffs with China. After a long stretch of uncertainty and financial harm to various industries, Chinese import tariffs have gone from 145% to 30%. While substantially less extreme, the tariffs still pose a major problem for the tabletop industry.
The Adjusted Trade Tariffs and Their Effects
After a recent series of negotiations between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, a 90-day pause has been placed on the trade war; a trade war instigated by President Trump. As a result, adjusted trade tariffs have been cut back from 125% to 10%. Including the 20% on products related to fentanyl, this means total tariffs on Chinese goods currently stand at 30%.
As we have covered before, the initial trade war with China has been disastrous for the board game industry. Greater Than Games had to close up shop. Board game publisher CMON had to suspend active board game development. The implementation of the tariffs were so disruptive Stonemaier Games is currently suing the US government over them.
So with the 90-day pause and the 30%, the board game industry can adjust, right? Not exactly. In a report by BoardGameWire, several tabletop publishers voiced their concerns.
Renegade Game Studios’ CEO Scott Gaeta remarked that a 30% tariff on goods was problematic but manageable, whereas Hatchette Boardgames USA commented on the logistics of container space, shipping rates, and import scheduling.
“We’re anticipating this will be like after COVID lockdowns ended and we kept getting our containers bumped off ships by companies that were willing to pay more. We actually had a container that we shipped from China pulled off in South Korea in 2022, for three months, because another company outbid us, apparently, even after we had the freight booked and onboard.”
Arguably the biggest case of sour grapes by the adjusted trade tariffs is Brotherwise Games. Courtesy of Rascal News, Brotherwise Games stated that the 30% trade tariffs have hampered the success of the highly anticipated Cosmere RPG.
Because of the Kickstarter, the studio has produced a large amount of books, cards, miniatures, dice, and GM screens to match the various pledges. Now all of that product needs to be shipped from China overseas. That means all of that import will be subject to these 30% tariffs, assuming the product wasn’t just the physical RPG books by themselves.
Regardless of any future negotiations in the US China trade war, its instigation has had a disastrous effect on the board game industry. An effect that will only become prominent over time.
