Tariffs backed by Reps. Steil and Van Orden are raising costs on everything from gifts to groceries—and families are paying the price
MADISON, Wis. – In case you missed it, families are getting an unwelcome surprise this holiday season: costly tariffs are leading to significantly higher prices on toys and online purchases shipped from overseas. Recent coverage details how tariffs backed by President Trump and Republicans in Congress including Reps. Bryan Steil and Derrick Van Orden are busting holiday budgets for working families—with some consumers facing tariff charges higher than the cost of their purchases and toy prices doubling on popular items.
“Wisconsin families are being blindsided by these tariffs just when they’re trying to make the holidays special for their loved ones,” said Opportunity Wisconsin Program Director Meghan Roh. “Whether it’s surprise bills that cost more than the gifts themselves or toy prices that have doubled, these tariffs backed by Congressmen Bryan Steil and Derrick Van Orden are making it nearly impossible for working families to put presents under the tree. Meanwhile, Steil and Van Orden keep voting for massive tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations. It’s time they stand up against these costly tariffs and start fighting for Wisconsin families instead of protecting the ultra-rich.”
NBC News: Surprise tariffs are hitting shoppers this holiday season
- If you order products from abroad this holiday season, you could end up with an unwanted surprise: a pricey tariff bill. This is the first holiday shopping season since the Trump administration made a major change to customs rules, extending tariffs and customs fees to low-value packages that had long been exempt.
- Shoppers who buy gifts from overseas should be prepared to pay tariffs before they can put their presents under the tree. And those who dispute an unexpected tariff bill should be ready for a potentially monthslong back-and-forth with major shippers — while late fees pile up.
- Bonnie Hardy-Compagno thought she’d be paying a standard 15% import duty from Europe when she ordered $431 worth of skincare products in late August that were shipped from Belgium.
- Instead, when her package arrived via UPS in September, she was told that she owed customs charges and fees that were more than the items were worth.
- “I was very shocked when it showed up and the delivery driver was like, ‘This is going to be $657 to collect your package,’” said Hardy-Compagno.
- The president has said his tariff-based economic policy will boost domestic manufacturing and improve the U.S. economy in the long run. But in the meantime, American businesses and consumers are paying a price.
- Many U.S. retailers have decided to raise their prices to account for these higher import costs.
- Some international businesses have stopped shipping to the United States altogether, saying it’s not financially feasible to pay big tariffs in order to ship small items.
Quartz: Toys are taking a $1 billion tariff hit for Christmas
- Tariffs are now hitting the once duty-free toy sector in the U.S., bringing import taxes to levels unseen since the mid-20th century. Now, toy companies of all sizes are scrambling to reorganize massive supply chains to avoid paying double-digit tariffs while wrestling with the uncertainty unleashed within the U.S. economy.
- “I would think we are probably back to the toy tariff rates of the 1940s,” Ed Gresser, the director of trade and foreign markets at the Progressive Policy Institute, told Quartz. He observed that manufacturers in the U.S. have broadly shed jobs for nine months and there’s been little, if any, sign that U.S. toymakers are on-shoring their production.
- The financial pain is amplified among smaller toy store owners, who have less room to maneuver with thinner margins. That’s the case for Joann Cartiglia, the owner of Queen’s Treasures, an antique doll store based in upstate New York. Their doll lines are exclusively made in China.
- In Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Lynn Potyen owns The GameBoard, a store that’s sold popular board games like Monopoly, puzzles, and strategy games for nearly two decades. She described a “frustrating” situation for her business, one that’s constantly shifting gears as game companies shutter and other shortages abound.
- “Our industry is very much an import industry because there is no infrastructure here in the United States to create and build the tabletop games that we see,” Potyen told Quartz. “This tax has caused us to have to switch products that we’re bringing in. We’ve had to discontinue lines because those companies have closed down. We’ve had to change to different kinds of games because the products are not even available in our warehouses, or have been out of stock for months at a time.”
