Photo: Christoph Schmidt/picture alliance via Getty Images
Donald Trump has been obsessed with dolls recently. They first came up on April 30, when the president was dismissing the idea that his tariffs on China would lead to product shortages and drastic price increases in the U.S. “Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls,” Trump said. “And maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally.”
Over the next few days, the president continued revising the recommended doll allotment, saying girls could own three dolls or perhaps as many as five.
Obviously, the fact that the president kept talking about dolls was pretty ridiculous. But if you wanted to be generous, you could say he wasn’t really fixated on the toy, he just randomly named a product to illustrate his claim that concerns about the impact of his trade policies are overblown.
Or at least, you could argue that, until Trump lashed out at the “country” of Mattel, threatening to put a 100 percent tariff on “his” toys if they continued to be manufactured abroad.
“Mattel, I don’t know, I’m not so sure. They also said, they’re the only country I’ve heard, they said, ‘Well we’re going to go counter. We’re going to try going someplace else.’ That’s okay. 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: Mattel— they’re the only country I’ve heard saying they’re going to go some place else. That’s okay. Let them go and we’ll put a 100% tariff on his toys. He won’t sell one toy in the US. pic.twitter.com/sT9bsaGukf
— Acyn (@Acyn) May 8, 2025
Trump probably meant to call Mattel a “company,” and is also aware that the maker of Barbie dolls and Hot Wheels cars is not a person. The toy company, which produces 20 percent of its U.S.-sold goods in China, said earlier this week that it would raise prices in response to Trump’s 145 percent tariff on most products from China.
It seems Trump was referring specifically to Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz telling CNBC’s Squawk Box “We don’t see that happening” when asked if the company might move manufacturing to the U.S. to avoid Trump’s tariffs.
“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,” Kriez said on Tuesday.
Mattel CEO letting Trump here it on tariffs on CNBC this morning:
— Spencer Hakimian (@SpencerHakimian) May 6, 2025
On the other hand, we’re talking about a president who seems to be ripping policy proposals straight from Nicolas Cage movies. We can’t rule out the possibility that Trump caught the first half of the Barbie movie on cable and decided that he needs to join the Kens’ crusade to bring patriarchy to Barbieland.
