Tabletop designers rush to prepare for another looming US tariff storm

Further changes to US tariff infrastructure are sending international tabletop game makers scrambling to respond, with some choosing to simply halt all sales until further notice. Small press publishers and designers such as Games Omnivorous and By Odin’s Beard preemptively closed their webstores to US orders, while other, larger outfits are leaning on limited distribution and printing capacity within the country. An already frustrating situation for all but the largest players in the tabletop industry has adopted another layer of complexity.

The Trump administration announced in July that it planned to remove the de minimis exemption from the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency’s rules, which previously allowed parcels valued below $800 to bypass tariffs — largely because the administrative effort was not worth it. As of August 29 (the day this article was initially published), that plan will take effect and put sellers, publishers, global logistics, and international postal services and couriers in a reactionary position. 

One week earlier, dozens of countries — including Australia, the UK, France, Japan, India, Germany, South Korea, Italy, and Singapore — announced that they would suspend at least some of their parcel shipping services to the US. New rules need time for adjustment on a global scale, but Trump has made sudden and nonsensical disruption the foundation of his international trade policy. Under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (Trump’s legal, er… trump card for justifying all of this), postal carriers will either need to pay the country of origin’s current tariff rate or — for the next six months only — charge a flat rate of $80 per parcel. The US Postal Service, already underfunded and overburdened, will likely be forced to comply with the latter for the foreseeable future.

For tabletop creators, either reality feels more like a continued nightmare. Colin Le Sueur is based in the UK but prints his bestselling books, Runecairn and We Deal in Lead, in Lithuania. He would therefore have to pay the 20% European tariff under the ad valorem tax that uses the value of the imported good — that, or pass it along to the customer. “My sales to US customers are already impacted by high shipping charges,” he said. “If I needed to charge an extra 20% on top of everything, my sales would be seriously impacted. Folks would either buy my books elsewhere (best case scenario) or decide it's not worth it and buy something else instead.”

Rascal spoke with several publishers and designers who all said that the US comprises at least 60% and as much as 80% of their customers. Many run a hybridized model, selling games from both their own webstore and out of US-based distributors such as Indie Press Revolution. Both income streams are critical to staying alive in an industry notorious for its paper-thin margins. Poland-based designer Paweł Kicman said his $12-35 books cost an average $8.50 to ship to American customers. Even if the Polish Post resumes services, he can’t balance an extra $80 into the equation, either paid by him or players receiving his games.