White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller argued in front of the press corps on Thursday that Americans would rather buy more expensive American dolls for their children than Chinese-made ones amid President Donald Trump’s trade war with China.
Miller’s comments come after Trump’s remark on Wednesday that parents may have to buy fewer toys for their children because of the tariffs.
“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,” the president said during a cabinet meeting.
The following day, Miller took to the podium in the press briefing room, arguing that Trump “was making the point that I think almost every American consumer agrees with.”
“If you had a choice between a doll from China, that might have, say, lead paint in it that is not as well constructed, as a doll made in America that has a higher environmental and regulatory standard and that is made to a higher degree of quality, and those two products are both on Amazon, that yes, you probably would be willing to pay more for a better-made American product,” he said.
“But here’s the key point: with the tax cuts, the regulation cuts, the energy price decrease, and everything else that President Trump is doing to unleash this era of American prosperity and prevent the road we were on, to get off that road of financial ruin and doom, means that it will be cheaper than ever to manufacture in America,” Miller claimed.
The deputy chief of staff for policy appeared to argue that the higher quality of American-made products is because of better regulations, even as he said that Trump would cut back on such constraints.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in March that “access to cheap goods is not the essence of the American dream.”
This comes as toy retailers are cutting back on their Christmas orders due to Trump’s taxes on imports impacting supply chains.
Chinese factories produce almost 80 percent of all toys and 90 percent of all Christmas goods sold in the U.S., The New York Times noted.
At this time of the year, toy production, as well as the production of Christmas trees and decorations, tends to have begun as it takes about four to five months to make, package, and ship the goods to the U.S.
Greg Ahearn is the chief executive of the Toy Association. The U.S. industry group represents 850 toymakers.
“We have a frozen supply chain that is putting Christmas at risk,” he told The Times. “If we don’t start production soon, there’s a high probability of a toy shortage this holiday season.”
