Some U.S. toymaking companies are experiencing a boost and increasing domestic manufacturing amid President Donald Trump’s import tariffs.
FOX Business’ Lauren Simonetti reported Tuesday that Ohio-based Simplay3 was “hiring 10% more workers and running this operation 24/7” to make its products.
The company produces slides, playhouses, play tables and a slew of other children’s toys using a “rotational molding” process at its facility in northeastern Ohio, per its website.
Making toys in America has helped Simplay3 keep its prices down amid the Trump administration’s tariff efforts, Simonetti reported.
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Simplay3 E-commerce Director Matthew Murdough told FOX Business the American consumer “benefits because they’re not going to see an additional $15 tacked on to a $100 item.”
“Our prices are going to remain the same,” he said.
“We consciously made an effort, as a small company we can do this, we can make a conscious effort to start designing products that are under $100, that are $79, that are $49, and now we see that we get the sales back up through volume, not necessarily through the price, but that’s what the consumer is looking for right now,” John Hradisky, the company’s product development vice president, also said.
Another company, Cra-Z-Art, announced last week it planned to ramp up its toy-making in America by increasing its U.S. manufacturing space by 50% to “combat the cost of tariffs for imported goods from China and other countries.”
That move will lift the toy, art and school supplies maker’s domestic manufacturing space to 1.5 million square feet from its current 1 million-plus square feet, according to Cra-Z-Art. Its U.S. factories are located in Lewisburg, Tennessee, and Jacksonville, Florida.
“Based on the current economic climate, we are taking decisive action to expand and invest in American manufacturing,” Cra-Z-Art Chairman Lawrence Rosen said in a statement. “We are fortunate to have the infrastructure and capabilities in place to rapidly increase toy and school supply production as well as manufacturing space right here in the USA.”
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He said the expansion will “greatly benefit our retail partners by allowing us to get products to market quicker and more cost effectively” and bring savings to consumers.
The Trump administration placed a new tariff on imports from China in early March, bringing the levy on goods coming into the U.S. from the country to 20%.
Canada and Mexico were also hit with 25% tariffs at that time, but Trump later introduced exemptions for those two countries on goods under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement until early April.
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China-made toys account for almost 80% of toys purchased in the U.S., the Associated Press reported, citing figures from The Toy Association.
Toy Association CEO Greg Ahearn has said the tariffs could lead to higher toy prices for American consumers later in the year, according to the outlet.
The U.S. toy trade association and others from around the world have called for toys to “be excluded from all tariffs as the U.S. and its trading partners work to renegotiate better trade deals,” per a Toy Association press release.
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