New Tariffs On RPGs Printed In China

ICv2 is reporting on new tariffs on imports to the USA from China, which include various categories of items including toys, comics, and games... including tabletop RPGs. The tariffs are up to 25%. Many game companies print RPG books in China, so this will affect them.

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The New York Times reports on it in more depth.

So, here's a simple breakdown of it as I understand it -- while tabletop games are not currently under any tariff, they will be affected by the 25% rate coming in a couple of months. There's a grace period of about three weeks for items in transit.

The tariff doesn't necessarily mean the games will cost 25% more. It's based on the manufacturing and shipping costs, which are only a part of the cost of producing a product. The price increase to consumers, therefore, will likely be substantially lower than 25% (although it's completely up to the companies how they handle it - some might even just absorb it, while others will pass it on).

It'll likely start showing in prices in games in Autumn or so.

This, of course, only affects games printed in China and shipped to America. And lost of other things, apart from games!

 

[R_Chance]

A related but slightly different use of tariffs would be as compensation for "unfair competition." For example, the EU has stricter laws regarding treatment of farm animals than the US. This means that raising animals for food is more expensive in the EU. It would be totally fair for the EU to levy tariffs on meat imported from the US to compensate for this - and it makes little sense for the EU to say "We don't condone animals being treated this way, but we'll buy your meat anyway."

That's a fairly standard reasoning for using tariffs. Worker safety costs have come up as well in tariffs.

 

[R_Chance]

So that means that unless China is putting out domestic RPGs, this isn't going to be doing anyone any good on that particular front?

Whether it is printed in China or printed in the U.S. (where it will cost more than pre tariff China printing costs) it means higher costs for U.S. consumers. The only way out of that is to find another nation to print them in where costs are lower (and not subject to tariffs). If a third nation does the printing it harms the Chinese printers, and does nothing to boost the U.S. printing industry. So, bonus for a third country (and maybe U.S. consumers). The question is whether there exists sufficient capacity in a third country that has lower printing costs. I imagine the RPG industry will be exploring that possibility...

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

One thing about tariffs is certain: they are rarely effective when levied against an economy roughly equal in power to your own. Kinda like nukes, in situations like USA vs China- the #1 & #2 economies in the world right now- tariffs are the M.A.D. solution to an economic issue.

FWIW, the nonpartisan Economist magazine threat report in mid-2016 listed a possible Trump presidency as one of the top threats to the global economic situation, precisely because of...well...a host of misunderstandings about international commerce. This Tariff War is a great proof of concept for their writers.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Whether it is printed in China or printed in the U.S. (where it will cost more than pre tariff China printing costs) it means higher costs for U.S. consumers. The only way out of that is to find another nation to print them in where costs are lower (and not subject to tariffs). If a third nation does the printing it harms the Chinese printers, and does nothing to boost the U.S. printing industry. So, bonus for a third country (and maybe U.S. consumers). The question is whether there exists sufficient capacity in a third country that has lower printing costs. I imagine the RPG industry will be exploring that possibility...

Right. What I meant was that China isn't going to get any benefit out of this change (as far as it relates to RPGs), unless they are making their own to compete.

 

[CarolynDenton]

That moment when great politics impacts your small RPG party of five people sitting in a basement and rolling dices LMAO

 

[stargazera5]

Crystal Frasier, formerly of Paizo Publishing and currently part of Green Ronin, had some thoughts on this:

There are two big assumptions in Crystal Frasier's thoughts which have not fully held true in other tariff increases to date:

1. The Chinese printers won't cut their prices to keep their market share.

2. Other countries won't become the low cost printer for less than the $2 increase.

This isn't the first round of tariff increases Trump has done, and both have happened in the other increases with a fair amount of regularity. Crystal Frasier is looking at the worst case scenario. While that is obviously worth looking at the worst case, we also have to keep in mind that it is not the only scenario likely to happen.

 

[dragoner]

No American printer is going to invest capital in developing operations based on an artificial barrier to trade that can be swept out from under them a year later. Most likely results will be rising costs on printed RPG products, which will make them in turn rarer. If we were talking about something like steel, then there would be transhipment or 2nd source suppliers, just to fill the gap.

 

[billd91]

There are two big assumptions in Crystal Frasier's thoughts which have not fully held true in other tariff increases to date:

1. The Chinese printers won't cut their prices to keep their market share.

2. Other countries won't become the low cost printer for less than the $2 increase.

This isn't the first round of tariff increases Trump has done, and both have happened in the other increases with a fair amount of regularity. Crystal Frasier is looking at the worst case scenario. While that is obviously worth looking at the worst case, we also have to keep in mind that it is not the only scenario likely to happen.

China's got its own economic issues right now that will probably affect both of those ideas. They may not be able to cut their prices to keep marketshare - or they might, it's hard to tell. But there have been quite a few rumblings in the Chinese economy about segments where the workers are restive because of low pay. Cutting deeper into their prices won't exactly help that.

But as far as other countries stepping up, that takes time and it takes investment that may not be there. One reason the Chinese economy has done so well with respect to the American economy is because we set up permanent trade relations with them back in 2000. By making the trade relationship permanent rather than renewable on an annual review basis, we enabled stable long term investment to build the manufacturing and printing infrastructure to exploit their cheap wages and lack of environmental protection that companies benefit from now. If there aren't other countries immediately ready to pick up the slack, the effects may be felt for quite a few months.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

1. The Chinese printers won't cut their prices to keep their market share.

Yes and no.

I was talking about this with someone in a non-gaming business that imports a lot of Chinese printed/produced goods. He said that the majority of his suppliers did exactly that for the first round of tariffs.

He was not expecting them to do the same with the freshly boosted rates, though.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Hopefully companies will either move some of their business back stateside or China will negotiate. Either way would be good for our economy.

According to the reporting I've seen (e.g., here) U.S. companies are moving their manufacturing to foreign countries other than China. Mexico, especially, is benefiting. But tariffs would, on average, have to rise to 100%, and be imposed on all countries, before it would make economic sense to invest in domestic infrastructure. And then the only market for those products would be domestic, as well.