Worst case tariffs announced Wednesday afternoon will impose major cost increases on imported products in many geek culture categories, including board and miniature games, and merch [April 7: corrected to remove books from this list; those goods are exempt. - ed.]

The breadth of countries affected means that the costs of almost all imported goods will go up, with especially high import taxes on goods from Asian countries, including China (34% in new tariffs, bringing the total to 54%), Japan (24% in new tariffs), South Korea (25% in new tariffs), and Vietnam (where toy and merch companies have been fleeing to avoid new tariffs on China, 46% in new tariffs).  A 20% import tax will be applied to imports from the EU.

While the past two months were already a period of high uncertainty due to on-again, off-again tariff announcements, the stakes have now been raised, with the new tariffs higher than any previously announced and correspondingly higher impacts.  Publishers and collectible companies are going to be making high-stakes decisions about how to react in a situation that has likely not stopped evolving, with the potential for delays, reductions, or even increases based on retaliatory actions taken by other countries.

The downstream impacts on distributors, retailers, and consumers will follow.  Buckle up.