Hasbro's CEO says tariffs could hit the toy industry as hard as the 2008 recession
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- Shoppers could pull back spending on toys due to tariffs, Hasbro's CEO said.
- The tariffs could have as severe an effect as the 2008 recession, Christian Cocks said.
- While consumers are still spending, companies are predicting fallout from Trump's duties.
Playtime could be over for one of the largest toy makers if tariffs stick around.
Hasbro, which makes Nerf dart guns and Play-Doh, expects shoppers to cut back on toy spending if President Donald Trump continues to impose tariffs of 145% on imports from China and 10% on goods from other nations.
The pullback could be as bad as it was during the Great Recession during the late 2000s, CEO Christian Cocks said during a company earnings call on Thursday.
"We see the impact to consumer spending on the toy category consistent with what happened with the 2008 and 2009 recession," Cocks said.
Back then, sales in the toy industry fell "roughly mid-single digits," he said.
Hasbro is the latest company to warn about potential ill effects from Trump's tariffs. Other consumer brands and retailers have said that they will likely raise the prices that consumers pay to offset the cost of the duties.
That, along with other fallout from the tariffs, could push the US into a recession, some economists have said.
For the moment, though, people continue to spend, with some even splashing out more to avoid tariff-related price increases.
While consumer confidence has fallen, for instance, data shows that shoppers have largely stuck to their spending plans. Even Hasbro's own first-quarter earnings came in ahead of analysts' expectations.
Not all of Hasbro's products will be hit evenly by the tariffs, Cocks said. While many of its toys are imported, it also makes board games like Monopoly, many of which are made domestically in Massachusetts, he said.
The company has also built a digital gaming business that drove much of its revenue increase during the first quarter.