Continuing to show that Trump’s “Art of the Deal” was all bullshit, the United States and China agreed to slash their tariffs while attempting to resolve differences during further negotiations.

The deal lasts for 90 days and the US will drop its 145% Trump tax to 30% while China will lower its tariff rate from 125% to 10%. So, in the end, consumers will still pay more than when all of this stupidity began. The US’s 30% tariff against China is a mix of the 10% tariff it has on most of the world and a 20% tariff to pressure China to do something about fentanyl entering the US.

The market improved in the news and but it might be too little and too late as ports around the country are seeing massive declines with some experiencing a 60% decrease in sailing from China and many seeing drops of over 40% in traffic.

The 90 day decrease might be good news for the toy and game industries which have been gravely impacted by the increased tariffs. Companies have already shut down, Kickstarters cancelled, and shipping has been delayed. With the 90 day window, we might see a rush to get product to the US shores, but it takes time to book ships and for those ships to travel. It may not be enough time, especially if product still needs to be printed/produced. Prices/additional charges have also been implemented by some stores to make up for the tariffs and it’s unknown if that might be adjusted due to the news as well.

As a whole, while the White House might be crowing about this, the US gains very little except increased costs that didn’t exist before and continued volatility in costs and consumer pricing.

We’ll see how/if this impacts the industry.