Barbie dolls become new victim of Trump’s tariff war

This Barbie is about to get more expensive — and you can thank U.S. President Donald Trump.

Not long after Trump repeatedly suggested kids lay off dolls, and slapped tariffs on toys manufactured in China and elsewhere, Mattel — the toymaking giant and inventor of the iconic Barbie — plans to hike up its prices in the U.S., the company said in a statement Monday.

The company has also scrapped its financial forecasts for 2025, blaming the “evolving U.S. tariff landscape” for making it “difficult to predict consumer spending.”

Mattel manufactures about 40 percent of its toys in China, which the Trump administration slugged with 145 percent tariffs, arguing Beijing treats the U.S. unfairly on trade.

The toymaker said Monday it would move some of its production out of China in a bid to diversify its supply chain and weather the tariff storm, while "taking pricing action in its U.S. business" where necessary.

Yet in memorable comments last week, Trump downplayed concerns that his so-called reciprocal tariffs would jack up the costs of goods and lead to shortages.

“Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, and maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally,” he said. Trump has since doubled (and tripled) down on those anti-materialistic remarks.

A survey last month of 400 American toy companies by the Toy Association, a trade organization, found that almost half believed Trump’s tariffs would put them out of business.