Supply Lines

How Tariffs Will Make Toy Shopping Harder to Navigate This Year

One of the nation’s leading supply-chain professors warns of ‘far thinner’ toy selection this holiday shopping season
Toys at a Target store ahead of Black Friday in Jersey City, New Jersey, US, on Tuesday.Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg
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Heading into the all-important holiday shopping season for American retailers, there’s concern some stores will struggle to keep shelves stocked with children’s gifts still overwhelmingly made in China.

That’s because toy imports — classified under an HS code capturing Christmas favorites like bikes, dolls and puzzles — “are performing very poorly in 2025,” said Jason Miller, a professor of supply chain management at Michigan State University.