Board games could become a lot more expensive to make and purchase during Donald Trump’s second term as President. The US election victor has proposed tariffs on foreign goods, suggesting an up to 60% tax on Chinese imports and 10% tariffs globally.
Tariffs mean that US companies would pay extra tax on any imported goods from other countries. These costs are likely to be passed on in large part to consumers, meaning all sorts of goods could become more expensive for Americans in the near future – including buying the best board games.
Because it’s so reliant on Chinese manufacturing to print games and produce plastic components, the board game industry will be one of many hit hard, and indie board game designers are understandably worried.
One such designer is Judson Cowan, the US-born but Scottish-based creator of Deep Regrets: An Unfortunate Fishing Game. A horror fishing game with strong Dredge vibes, Deep Regrets was funded on Kickstarter in July of this year, raising $825,000.
But in an update on Deep Regrets’ campaign page, Cowan warns that should the 60% tariffs be imposed by the time his Chinese-manufactured games arrive in US ports, he could be charged a “financially devastating” $100,000.
While the designer says this would not impact buyers, he adds that 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,”
Copies of the game will arrive in the country in February, and since Trump won’t take office until January 20, it seems unlikely that Deep Regrets will be affected by new trade tariffs, but Cowan has fears for what they could mean for the industry going forwards.
“Tariffs on imports from China would affect about 90% of the board game manufacturing space and likely see many companies substantially increasing prices for their board games inside the US,” he explains.
This is not the first time Trump’s tariffs have inspired panic for board game makers. During his first term, during ‘trade wars’ with China, America came close to imposing tariffs on all kinds of Chinese goods, including board games.
While Trump’s mercurial nature makes it hard to predict his moves, the uncertainty is sure to be deeply uncomfortable for a huge chunk of the board game industry.
For more content, check out our lists of the best couples board games and the best strategy board games.
(Donald Trump image by Michael Vadon, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.)
Source: Wargamer
