More than 60 percent of toymakers forced to cancel orders as Trump’s tariffs threaten Christmas

Hundreds of toymakers have canceled orders since President Donald Trump imposed hefty tariffs on China, raising the prospect of a nightmare before Christmas.

Earlier this month, Trump imposed a 145 percent levy on China — which is responsible for producing 80 percent of all toys and 90 percent of Christmas goods sold in America, according to the New York Times. Now, smaller toy manufacturers have said they’ve been forced to cancel orders due to the markups.

In a Toy Association survey of 410 small and medium-sized toy manufacturers taken this month, 64 percent of small toy companies and 80 percent of mid-sized toy companies said they have canceled orders. Meanwhile, roughly half said they would go out of business within weeks or months if U.S. tariffs on China remained in place.

“We have a frozen supply chain that is putting Christmas at risk,” Greg Ahearn, president and CEO of Toy Association, told the Times. “If we don’t start production soon, there’s a high probability of a toy shortage this holiday season.”

Kara Dyer, founder of Storytime Toys, which makes children’s storybook playsets and puzzles, told the Times she placed an order for $30,000-worth of goods before Trump imposed the tariffs. Now, she anticipates owing $45,000 in tariffs alone. To cover the costs of the levies, she said she’ll probably have to raise her products’ prices by at least 20 percent, she told the outlet.

Dyer typically places a large holiday order in early April in order to have enough in stock by mid-July — but this year, she said, she’ll wait.

“I’m going to hold out hope for another two weeks that the tariffs will be removed and I’ll be able to place the order,” she told the Times. “But if not, I will have to put my business on pause. I will definitely not place an order if the tariffs are in effect. It wouldn’t make any sense.”

Jennifer Bergman, the owner of West Side Kids in Manhattan, told the Times that if the tariffs are here to stay, Christmas will be like “something we’ve never experienced before.” She feared that her store’s shelves will be mostly empty and the toys she can stock will cost double what they did the year prior.

She’s already running into issues, she said. After placing a large order of scooters, the importer didn’t want to pay the tariffs, so they redirected her shipment to Canada. Adding insult to injury, she was informed she’ll only receive part of her order.

Bergman’s mother opened the store in 1981. The Upper West Side store was already under threat from Amazon, but Trump’s tariffs could cause its doors to close, she said, noting that she’s been talking with a bankruptcy lawyer. “I don’t think I will be in business for Christmas,” she told the Times.

This month, Mischief Toy Store in St. Paul, Minnesota, joined a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s tariffs. About 85 percent of its products are imported from China, so the levies are likely to have a “substantial negative impact on Mischief’s business as a result of price increases on those products,” the filing argues.

“This is an existential threat for us. Our vendors are raising prices across the board,” co-owner Dan Marshall told the Minnesota Star Tribune. “A lot of them seem to be delaying imports altogether, so by the time Christmas comes around, we won’t be able to meet demand.”

Asked in an interview with ABC News on Tuesday about Americans’ concerns surrounding rising prices due to the U.S. tariff policy, the president said China “probably will eat those tariffs.”