President Trump announces a 90-day tariffs pause except for China

With so many questions in the air as far as the impact of President Trump’s Tariff War on the comic and tabletop game industry, there’s a 90-day pause now that’ll leave some breathing room for publishers to keep on worrying, sort of.

President Trump has issued a 90-day pause and Reciprocal Tariff of 10 percent. But, tariffs on China will be 125 percent due to China’s “lack of respect” towards the world’s markets.

Trump’s pause impacts 75 trading partners who did not “retaliate” after the tariffs he imposed went into effect.

The whiplash continues an erratic economic plan that leaves much up in the air for the comic, toy, and tabletop game industry.

Much of the production for those industries happen in China and Canada, requiring importing of product to the United States. The tariffs threaten all of those industries with some game publishers canceling projects, pausing projects, eating the increased costs, or asking for more money.

While it is believed that the tariffs don’t impact comic publishing in Canada (and honestly who knows with the morons in charge) the continued tariffs on Chinese imports will still potentially crush the industries.

There’s also the question as to what happens after 90 days? With production taking so long for games and comics, it’s hard to plan on the economic outlook and what to charge at this point.

This economic unknown along with distribution uncertainty in the comic industry creates a landscape that will be difficult to navigate for all three industries for the foreseeable future.