Trump’s promised tariffs on China could damage board game and TTRPG publishers

In the wake of the U.S. election, president-elect Donald Trump’s promised tariffs have sent a wave of panic through the tabletop industry. The proposed tariffs were a fixture on Trump’s campaign trail. These taxes on goods imported from other countries could include a universal increase of up to 20% on all foreign goods, with targeted increases of 60-100% on goods imported from China — a significant manufacturing location for tabletop game books, miniatures, and other goods, like dice. Though there’s still a chance for the Supreme Court to prevent these policies, if enacted, they could make tabletop games prohibitively expensive for consumers and game designers alike.

In late October, industry trade group the Consumer Technology Association released a report stating that “the tariffs, if enacted, will only harm American consumers, households, workers, businesses, organizations, and governments at all levels.” Tariffs have long been a part of the president-elect’s economic plan to return manufacturing work to the United States, increase tax revenue, and punish countries that “move away from the US dollar.” Nonetheless, CTA states that “the truth is the proposed tariffs will never achieve these goals and will lead to unintended consequences.”

A previous study by the CTA showed “reshoring all tech manufacturing to the US isn’t feasible,” as the infrastructure simply doesn’t exist here. That’s true for board games as well. While manufacturers, such the company behind Steve Madden shoes, are making efforts to shift production to countries like Cambodia, Vietnam, Mexico, and Brazil post-election, the tabletop industry may not have the capital to do so. Even with those adjustments, the study says, “US consumers will still have to pay more to buy […] products [in categories with tariffs].”

The report by CTA claims the potential for 40% higher prices on video game consoles and other gaming hardware. The impact on the tabletop industry, which is significantly smaller and operates on much thinner margins, is likely a more existential threat.

In the wake of the election, prominent tabletop creators have commented on the potentially devastating impacts tariffs would have on their livelihoods. Meredith Placko, CEO of Steve Jackson Games, posted a blog stating the preemptive steps she and the company have had to take to survive these potential trade wars.

“I have been talking at length with my factory representatives, figuring out how much of an item I need to order now to offset any expanded costs later. In addition, we are looking at where we can move manufacturing to outside of China (hard mode, not a lot of places outside of China or Europe produce board game components at the scale our industry uses).

I’ve been speaking with my shipping representatives about the increasing freight costs we expect to see with a rise in tariffs. We’re already paying extreme freight prices, which will only go up as demand increases.”

British board game developer Judson Cowan, who raised nearly $700,000 for his game Deep Regrets, posted about the potentially “financially devastating” tariffs on his Kickstarter page. If tariffs were instituted by the game’s scheduled fulfillment in February 2025, Cowan states that he would be charged roughly $100,000 to deliver Deep Regrets to backers in the United States. “It will not impact your receipt of the game,” Cowan wrote, “but it may potentially affect my ability to sell games in the US in the future. And possibly my ability to continue making games at all.”

While the smoke is still clearing from the election itself, the incoming Trump administration won’t take office until Jan. 20, 2025. Until then, won’t have a clear understanding of how, or if, these proposed tariffs will impact the industry.