The Toy Association has hired a lobbying firm with close ties to the incoming Trump administration to advise and lobby on tariff issues, according to PR news site O’Dwyer’s. The firm is Ballard Partners, and Hunter Morgen is the partner on the account, according to the report.  Morgen spent three years in the Trump White House in his first administration, including time as a principal deputy to Peter Navarro and Stephen Miller, specializing in trade and immigration matters.   

The move comes as large organizations are mobilizing in opposition to plans for tariffs by the Trump administration.  The National Retail Federation funded a study released in November that found that 77% of U.S. toy imports (including games) come from China, and that less than 1% of the goods in the category were manufactured in the U.S.  The study modeled two scenarios, tariffs of 70% or 120%, on goods from China (which is targeted for the highest tariffs), and found that U.S. consumer prices on toys and games from all sources would go up an average of 36.3% to 55.8%. 

Comics have their own tariff issues.  Although tariffs on goods from Canada, where most periodical comics are printed (see “Where Are American Comics Printed?”), are expected to be much lower than tariffs on Chinese goods, the impact on costs for publishers, and ultimately on retail prices, could be significant.