Latest news with #MischiefToyStore
CBS News
30-04-2025
- Business
- CBS News
St. Paul toy store joins lawsuit against President Trump's tariffs
A family-owned toy store in St. Paul is joining a national legal fight, claiming President Trump's tariffs on Chinese imports could devastate their business. Mischief Toy Store is among several businesses represented by the Pacific Legal Foundation in a lawsuit that argues the 145% tariff on Chinese goods is "unlawful and unconstitutional." The suit specifically challenges the government's justification, stating the fentanyl crisis does not meet the threshold for invoking emergency powers and that only Congress has the authority to impose such tariffs. "We have never sued anyone for any reason," said Abigail Adelsheim-Marshall, co-owner of Mischief. "The president seemed like an interesting place to start." The toy store says it imports about 85% of its products from China. Owners say that under the proposed tariff, an item that used to cost them $10 could soon cost $25. "It's going to have to mostly be passed onto the consumer, there's no way around that," Adelsheim-Marshall said. The store is now stockpiling inventory in an attempt to avoid future price hikes and keep products affordable for customers. "Some people are raising prices across the board in their stores already. Some, like we're doing, are trying to buy in bulk. Some who are on the end of closing are closing their doors," she said. While they support the idea of more American-made toys, Adelsheim-Marshall says the infrastructure simply doesn't exist. "Root is one of our most popular games. It's designed by a company here in Minnesota, but it's made in China because all board games are made in China," she said. The lawsuit also includes a board game company, Stonemaier Games, that says it's facing nearly $1.5 million in upcoming tariff payments. After nearly a decade in business, the owners of Mischief Toy Store say this legal battle is about more than policy, it's about survival. "It's going to be a seismic shift for all of us," Adelsheim-Marshall said.
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Mischief Toy Store of St. Paul joins lawsuit against Trump tariffs
By their own admission, Grand Avenue toy store owners Millie Adelsheim and Dan Marshall have never filed a lawsuit before, let alone one aimed at pausing international tariffs. Suing the White House struck them as an ambitious but appropriate place to start. 'We estimate about 85% of our toys are impacted by Trump's 145% tariffs,' said Adelsheim and Marshall, the husband-and-wife co-owners of the Mischief Toy Store, in an open letter Friday explaining how they've been thrust into the front lines of an international trade war. 'Every day, we're getting notices of price increases from our suppliers. Several have left the US market altogether and many others have paused production. As a country we will be seeing huge price increases and shortages on every kind of consumer product — not just toys — in the near future.' With the financial future of their shop and their industry on the line, Mischief Toy Store has joined with Stonemaier Games and four other board game manufacturers, a children's clothing company called Princess Awesome, a metal treating company and an importer of fine art to file legal action against the U.S. government in an effort to roll back international tariffs recently imposed by the Trump administration. The lawsuit — 'Princess Awesome & Stonemaier Games, et al. v. Customs' — was filed Thursday in the U.S. Court of International Trade in Manhattan, with the 10 plaintiffs represented, free of charge, by the Pacific Legal Foundation, a non-profit Libertarian law firm. Around St. Paul, Adelsheim and Marshall are known for backing progressive causes, making the group effort 'a somewhat strange partnership for us. While we may disagree on other issues, we are all in full agreement on the need to check Trump's abuses of power. He is not a king and we cannot allow him to act like one.' The plaintiffs argue that the U.S. Constitution grants Congress, and not the president, the power to impose financial tariffs on foreign countries, and that the tariffs will be financially devastating to their businesses and industries. On Feb. 1, the president imposed tariffs on imports from Mexico, Canada and China, citing the need to address illegal immigration and fentanyl importation. On April 2, he expanded the tariffs to almost every country, calling trade imbalances a national emergency that empowered him to take unilateral action. He later paused most of those tariffs for 90 days, allowing time to renegotiate trade deals. While certain Trump policies have gained a following with segments of the American public, about 6-in-10 Americans polled have said they disapprove of the tariffs, according to the Pew Research Center, and a majority of the population has taken a skeptical view of the president's overall handling of the economy. Marshall, in an interview Friday, said kids aren't playing with analog toys as much as they used to, given growing interest in video and digital pastimes. For some vendors and suppliers, the tariffs will be a final nail in the coffin. 'We source American-made toys as much as we can, and one of our American suppliers is going out of business — Two Bros Bows,' he said. 'Kids don't play with analog toys like they used to, and they're not buying American. We're the last toy store in St. Paul. If all those things go up by 200%, it's going to be really hard to stay in business.' Based in St. Louis, Missouri, Stonemaier works with Chinese firms to manufacture the popular card-driven board game 'Wingspan,' which would be heavily impacted by a 145% tariff on imported products from China. For the board game company, that amounts to a $14.50 tax for every $10 spent manufacturing the game, which adds up to a looming payment of nearly $1.5 million, according to a written statement from Stonemaier. 'We will not stand idle while our livelihood — and the livelihoods of thousands of small business owners and contractors in the U.S. — are treated like pawns in a political game,' said Jamey Stegmaier, co-founder of Stonemaier Games, in the statement. Other plaintiffs in the lawsuit include XYZ Game Labs, Rookie Mage, Spielcraft and TinkerHouse Games, as well as Quent Cordair Fine Art, the KingSeal kitchen supply company and 300 Below, a cryogenic processing company. Similar cases have been filed by the New Civil Liberties Alliance in the Northern District of Florida, Tranel Law in District of Montana and the Liberty Justice Center in the Court of International Trade, according to the Pacific Legal Foundation. 'This might put us at risk,' wrote Adelsheim and Marshall, the Mischief Toy Store owners, in their open letter Friday. 'Who knows how Trump and his minions will respond … We'll be doing everything we can to keep things as normal as possible.' The Grand Avenue shop owners were previously associated with Peapods Natural Toys, which closed in 2015 after 16 years in operation in St. Paul. 'We'd also like to make it clear that we've always supported American-made toys and we stock them when we can,' they wrote. 'Those of you who remember Peapods will know that we specialized in Made in the USA toys, held a Minnesota Toy Fair to promote local toymakers, and even founded the Handmade Toy Alliance to support small batch US toymakers. The steady loss of US and EU toymakers was one of the main reasons we closed Peapods back in 2015. Tariffs cannot and will not reverse this trend.' St. Paul shooter gets 19½-year prison sentence for killing man on University Avenue who had his back to him St. Paul chief finance officer John McCarthy leaves for League of MN Cities MPCA sets May 8 deadline or it may yank St. Paul foundry's permit Jim Gelbmann: Our partisan endorsement process is unrepresentative, polarizing and self-serving History Theatre season includes new musical about the St. Paul Winter Carnival
CBS News
05-02-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Mattel may hike prices for Barbie, Hot Wheels and other toys after Trump tariffs
President Trump's move to tack an additional 10% tariff on U.S. imports from China could lead Mattel to hike the price of its Barbie, Hot Wheels and other toys. Mattel Chief Financial Officer Anthony DiSilvestro said in an earnings call with Wall Street analysts on Tuesday that roughly 40% of the company's toys are made in China, while noting that is less than the industry average of 80%. Overall, the fresh U.S. levies on Chinese good affect about 20% of Mattel's global production. "Against the tariff, we have a range of mitigating actions," including "potential price increases," he said. "We do work closely with our retail partners to achieve the right balance and always keep consumers in mind when we consider pricing actions," DiSilvestro added. Mr. Trump has also imposed 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico, where Mattel sources almost 10% of its products, and on Canada. On Monday, the president paused those tariffs for at least 30 days after Mexico and Canada agreed to heighten security at their respective borders with the U.S. Mattel executives spoke to analysts after the company reported fourth-quarter earnings and sales that surpassed expectations, with its vehicle toy category — fueled by its Hot Wheels brand — its fastest-growing segment. Demand for dolls and baby gear fell, with the former "down primarily due to Barbie as we wrapped the movie in the prior year," Mattel CEO Ynon Kreis said in the call. Toy sellers fear the steeper U.S. tariffs on China will hurt their business. "We're going to suffer as a small business, but so is everyone in this country," Dan Marshall, co-owner of family-run Mischief Toy Store in St. Paul, Minnesota, told CBS News Minnesota this week. Marshall said there are few toy manufacturers left in the U.S., and the tariffs could have an adverse impact. "If we have to raise prices, we will. But obviously, we're trying to bring in products now, earlier in the year so we don't have to do that, but we have no idea and that's part of the problem," he said. Implementing the 10% tariff on China, along with the 25% duties on imports from Canada and Mexico that are now on hold, would cost the typical U.S. household more than $1,200 a year, according to the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
