https://www.newsweek.com/trump-threatens-barbie-100-percent-tariff-2070023
> President Donald Trump has threatened to place a 100 percent tariff on Barbie maker Mattel, after the company's CEO said it would continue to manufacture outside the U.S. but would be reducing its reliance on Chinese imports. "I've heard [Mattel] said: 'Well we're going to go counter, we're going to try going someplace else,' " Trump said in the Oval Office on Thursday. "That's OK, let him go, and we'll put a 100 percent tariff on his toys, and he won't sell one toy in the United States, and that's their biggest market." Trump's threat to Mattel comes as toys—in particular dolls—have emerged as a flashpoint in the ongoing debates over tariffs and his administration's trade policy.
> Trump and his cabinet have downplayed the issue's significance, with the president himself repeatedly stating that girls will be better off for having fewer dolls, and now threatening tariffs on one of the world's most iconic doll manufacturers.
> During the company's first-quarter earnings call, Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz said the tariff-driven price hike was one of the three "mitigating actions" the company had been forced to take in response to the tariffs, alongside a reduction in its dependence on China-sourced products and a broader diversification of its supply chain. In an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, Kreiz was asked whether it would be cheaper to relocate some manufacturing to the U.S. due to the tariffs, but responded: "We don't see that happening." "We believe that production in other countries—where we can be efficient and more productive—is the best balance between manufacturing outside of the U.S. and [continuing] to develop product in terms of design and creativity in America," he said. In response to the price increases, and similar announcements made by car manufacturer Ford this week, Trump said: "I think they're saying that just to negotiate deals with me."
> Trump's remark on Mattel "trying to go somewhere else," and the resulting threat of a targeted, 100 percent tariff on its toys was somewhat ambiguous, given the company has only advocated shifting more of its manufacturing outside of China.
