"Trump's Tariffs - Any Impact Gaming Industry? " Topic

Does anyone know if the trade tariff's being proposed/implemented by the Trump Administration will have any impact on gaming products made in China?

I read that the toy industry in very concerned about what it will do to their business but I haven't been able to find out if this is also the case for the gaming industry-especially miniatures.

Thanks in advance for any information you can provide on this topic.

Robert
Novus Design

One poor chap in Canada just got hit with an import tax on some 3-D Flight Stands I sent him, since the antennae are made of metal.

Not sure how much that set him back, but it was unexpected, and seems to be hit or miss, depending upon the day, and person looking at the package.

The post office collecting customs tax has been in effect long before anyone heard of Trump.

Shipping from the US to Europe cost a leg… the fees requested are just ridiculous.

Collection of the taxes is irrelevant, the amount is set by government. The impact on different industries will depend on the materials and how any new tariffs are implemented.

Perhaps increasing global trade restrictions will help boost the internet of things and more and more fabrication labs that can offer high end 3d printing, contract casting and distribution without crossing national borders will start popping up.

A network of trustworthy partners and easy communication will need to be established as part of that, but I could see things headed in that direction. Where money and data cross borders through the internet, but then fulfillment of your order happens within your own country or one without those barriers to your country.

This is sort of already happening with kickstarter where people are finding ways to produce and ship so the backers of the projects don't get hit with super high shipping charges and brokerage fees. Add increasing tariffs to that and the technology of distributed production becoming ever cheaper and things could result in a major shift.

Many of you are talking past the original question, which is whether the particular set of new tariffs being put in place by Trump (remember, he is doing this without Congress) and in response to these new Trump tariffs are affecting gaming.

Well, this is going to hit the 3D printers :(

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A lot of gaming Kickstarters are fulfilled with Chinese mini's or printed boards – but these don't have a tariff on them (yet) do they ?

The trade tariff's being implemented by the Xi Jinping Administration have had a serious impact on gaming products made in the U.S.A.

It is the ripple effect that will impact everything in the economy – too much interconnection in manufacturing for it not to impact gaming as well.

Looks like a boon to those producing minis in lead/pewter, which is a plus.

Not sure it's tariff related but Wargames Accessories steel bases just went from $5.50 USD to $6.50 USD/pack. Last year they had the first price increase in quite a few years from $5 USD to $5.50 USD

25% fjariff on imported steel, so not surprised the price of steel bases is increasing. If the trade war is limited to steel and aluminum it shouldn't affect the hobby too much. But when there is tit for tat retaliation, things will get ugly for everyone.

Thanks for all the feedback and information.

I found this webpage by searching under the export code we use here at Novus (950320)to ship product out of the USA.

Assuming there's a 25% tariff placed on "toys" that designation will most likely also include games of all types as they are classified as the same for export/import purposes.

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Robert

EU has put a tariff on cardbased games from the US,as a counter tariff. That is going to hurt the us game industry.

Why not drop all tariffs (or limit them to a maximum of 2.5%) and have real Fair & Free Trade?

That may happen eventually, but right now everybody is engaging in a "tariff war" as a negotiation tactic ("Until you drop tariffs on our goods, we're going to charge tariffs on your goods.") Of course, how long it lasts depends on how stubborn everyone is… ;-)