Geekonomics and the impact of Trump trade wars 

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Turmoil has engulfed the United States. The taxation of fan-favorite products, goods, and games is in dispute. Donald Trump has decided that—with no knowledge of what they are or how they work—tariffs are somehow a magical key to force other countries to pay their fair share. Of what? Who knows. For what? No idea.

Tariffs are a tax on imported goods from another country, and designed to act as a deterrent on bringing in those goods. Supposedly, they help even out competition so that foreign countries can't undercut American manufacturers, and it's a way for the government to put its thumb on the scales of capitalism and competition (since there's no such thing as a free market). Plus, they theoretically encourage domestic manufacturing. Thanks to changes in the American economy and economic policy, as well as a corporate desire to squeeze every penny of profit out of the world, manufacturing in the United States for things like games and toys has largely disappeared, as much of that manufacturing capacity has headed to China.

For small producers in the world of nerddom, manufacturing in China is pretty much the only way to get in the business for hobby and entertainment products. Take, for instance, board games: The entire board gaming industry is in crisis right now, thanks to the unpredictable and fluctuating nature of the Trump tariffs (which are as of this writing 30% for Chinese imports, but two weeks ago were 180%, while a month before that were in the 80% range, compared to 10% tariffs for board games and components when Trump took office).

Imagine you put in a $1000 order for dice that you need for your board game in January 2025, expecting to pay $100 worth of tariffs. But between manufacturing and shipping, you happen to receive the package of dice when the tariffs are due at 180%, and that $1100 package you were expecting is now $2800. How do you sensibly plan for your business that way?

If you're wondering whether that exciting new Kickstarter board game you backed is dealing with these cost overruns, they probably are. I back a lot of Kickstarters for board games, board game accessories, comic books and graphic novels, and they're all having these same sorts of problems.

When you look for an offset printer for your comics or rulebooks, it's much cheaper to send those printing costs off to China. It might take a while to ship, since they'll be on a cargo container for a while, but when they get here, it's so much more cost-effective for a creative. And as creatives, we can barely scratch out a living as it is, thanks to the nightmare hellscape capitalism has made of our society.

Mid-sized and larger publishers will eat as much of the cost as they can. In a post by Loren Coleman—the owner of Catalyst Game Labs who publishes BattleTech and Shadowrun (two properties for which I write books)—he notes, "Catalyst will bring in just enough product to protect our position in the market while raising prices as little as possible. If that means selling some of our newest product at a loss, that is what we will do. Meanwhile, mid-tier publishers, many of them with far less room to maneuver, will be hurt the worst. Some will fail and leave the market. (This is also already happening...) How many great new product games will be abandoned at customs because publishers can't afford this tax? And new publishers will be backing away as fast as they can, if they can, waiting for the market to improve. This is the bigger tragedy. I've always believed that new publishers are the best innovators in the gaming industry. Less innovation means less excitement."

As for toys, there is a huge list of items that will start vanishing from the shelves. According to Newsweek, we're going to see Care Bears, Tonka Trucks, My Little Pony, Frisbees and so many more just disappear. And Donald Trump's answer is that kids will simply get "two dolls instead of thirty, and the two will cost more." And he's not just talking about Barbies and Care Bears; he's talking about your action figures and the miniatures in your board games, too.

I keep asking myself why he's destroying the economy of nerdery that we love so much, and the answer I keep coming to is that he really just doesn't have even the most basic intellect to understand what he's doing, or what the ramifications are.

The lesson learned is that geeks and gamers really can't afford to vote Republican ever again. Otherwise, we might not ever have new games to play. It sounds drastic, but that's the bind in which we see ourselves.

If only we could dispatch two Jedi Knights to settle the conflict...