Hasbr-uh-oh - Business and Tariffs Discussion
- Thread starter Thylacine 2000
- Start date
Tariffs for Chinese goods have been lowered to 30% for the next 90 days.
Will Hasbro lower prices now that the (still fucked) tariffs are no longer absolutely batshit insane level?
Will Hasbro lower prices now that the (still fucked) tariffs are no longer absolutely batshit insane level?
No
tbf they've not offically raised prices either yet, and 90 days just means delaying it atm; and with how jive is going we don't know the tarrifs wont triple or something after that 90 days. This is a yo-yo for everyone, and I can't entirely blame corporations for not really knowing what to do or if/when they should do it becuase this practically has everyone running around like chickens with their heads cut off.
That’s my take as well, any price increases are going to happen because nobody knows what is actually going to happen. At some point ”corporate greed” has to be called out, but I think we’re still at the “prepare for the worst we know of” stage for most companies.
And even if the broad rate from China is reduced (again, temporarily at the moment), the rate from Vietnam is STILL three times what it was just a few months ago.
That’s assuming Trump doesn’t get a hair up his butt and try to do more targeted tariffs like he’s threatened to Mattel…
And even if the broad rate from China is reduced (again, temporarily at the moment), the rate from Vietnam is STILL three times what it was just a few months ago.
That’s assuming Trump doesn’t get a hair up his butt and try to do more targeted tariffs like he’s threatened to Mattel…
While I agree, the kind of goodwill to expect them not to do something like that has yet to be earned in my eyes.
I'm not saying it won't happen, just that its not and there is no point to pre-blaming them for something that might not happen, or might not be as bad as some predict. We literally can't know as TPTB change their opinions more often then Transformers change modes. I'll fully call it out when it happens, just not before. I have little faith in things getting better, but right now holding on to the 'now' that's not currently completely terrible is one of the few things I can do to preserve my current mental health.
Hasbro's price increases don't reflect the Chinese tariffs, they reflect the Vietnamese ones since those are where Transformers are made.
A 10% tariff on the wholesale cost has a lot of second order effects.
I think Hasbro's costcutting has been problematic for years, but I think it's pretty unlikely that Hasbro's EBIT is going up this year rather than down.
It's not even that clear cut, there are still plenty of Hasbro products made in China, even when they did outsource a lot to Vietnam. And a 90 day pause isn't going to help much, production and planning times are made in YEARS, not weeks, due to the time delays in production and shipping. Today's in-production product won't even be in the US by the time the 90 day window closes. This uncertainty is not helping anyone plan ahead at all.
The "China tariffs don't affect Vietnam-produced Transformers" is one of the biggest misconceptions around this issue in this fandom.
Companies have already been slowly shifting production to Vietnam for years now, and heavy tariffs on China will only push more US company production to Vietnam. That means the demand- and therefore price of- for Vietnamese labour and factories will go up.