Toy Association Opposes Administration’s Threat to Impose Tariffs on Goods Imported from Mexico

The Toy Association opposes President Trump’s plan to impose escalating tariffs, starting at 5 percent, on all U.S. imports from Mexico as a retaliation against the country’s immigration enforcement actions.

“While Congress and the administration together must act to fix our broken immigration system, a further misuse of tariffs now focused on Mexico is the wrong approach,” said Steve Pasierb, president and CEO of The Toy Association. “As with China Section 301 tariffs, this amounts to nothing more than a tax with direct negative impact on American companies, workers, and families driving higher prices and greater economic uncertainty.”

U.S. retailers imported $128 billion in goods from Mexico in 2017, according to global management consulting firm A.T. Kearney. Additionally, Trade Partnership Worldwide said tariffs on imports from Mexico could lead to $25 billion in higher costs for American consumers. Approximately 4.9 million American jobs are tied to trade with Mexico, it says.

Pasierb added: “Passage of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement is vitally important to our nation, our workers, and future economy, meaning it must be held separate and distinct, without complications from the ongoing failure to deal with what is truly a humanitarian crisis. We need sensible, benevolent immigration reform AND we need fair and free trade with our neighbors. Opening a new front in trade war is the wrong approach.”

The Toy Association is leading industry advocacy efforts to aggressively oppose President Trump’s proposal of a 25 percent tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese imports, including toys, announced last month. In addition, the Association is working with the nationwide coalition, Americans for Free Trade, which released a statement on the proposed tariffs on Mexico in which it said: “Forcing Americans to pay more for everything from avocados and beer to jeans and electronics as a means to address border security makes no sense. And using tariffs to address unrelated policy objectives sets a dangerous precedent while creating significant uncertainty for American employers who are living tweet-by-tweet while trying to plan their business.” (Read the coalition’s full statement online.)   

Members will be kept apprised of new information and updates on the topic at large. Questions may be directed to Rebecca Mond, vice president of federal government affairs at The Toy Association.

Compliments of The Toy Association, a member of the EACCNY