The GameBoard in Sheboygan. (Photo courtesy: Lynn Potyen)
SHEBOYGAN, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — In a 6-3 decision Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that President Donald Trump’s emergency tariffs are illegal.
Some small businesses in Northeast Wisconsin that have felt the impact of these tariffs say it’s a good thing.
“It’s mind-blowing,” says Lynn Potyen, owner of The GameBoard in Sheboygan.
Potyen opened The GameBoard in 2006. She found that teaching her son, who had a severe speech delay and a neurological writing disorder, to play board games helped him with education and socialization.
The GameBoard has survived recessions, global insecurities, the COVID-19 pandemic and now, tariffs.
“We immediately made what we referred to as our ‘battle plans’,” Potyen says, thinking back to when Trump first began the conversations around tariffs. “What can we pivot to? What can we do? How can we make it different? How can we survive?”
Potyen and her team knew the tariffs would be a problem for The GameBoard, as nearly all toys and games are manufactured overseas.
“Everything is imported. That also includes things like inks and papers and all the things that are going to make our games complete,” she says. “So, even if we wanted to manufacture [here], we still have to import all these items to be able to manufacture. We’re about a decade out from being able to construct a feasible facility to do manufacturing, and that would probably only work for two or three items — not the hundreds of items that come out every year, thousands of games are brand new to us.”
The impact of the president’s tariffs, Potyen says, was almost instant.
“With the price jumps, it continuously vacillated. It went up and down. It depended on when things landed on the shores, what the price would be. Our publishers and manufacturers tried to do the best they could by holding stuff offshore until it was not hitting a high point. Unfortunately, that meant anywhere from 40-130% in tariffs,” she says.
On Friday, SCOTUS struck down Trump’s emergency tariffs. He called the move “deeply disappointing.”
Rep. Tony Wied, R-8th District, agreed.
The Supreme Court’s decision today is a disappointing outcome for anyone who believes in putting American small businesses, farmers, and workers first. For years, our country has been taken advantage of and forced into trade deals that seem fair to every nation except our own. President Trump has been using smart tariffs to negotiate fair trade agreements that benefit our country and protect our workers. While this decision limits the President’s ability to implement tariffs under “presidential” power, he still has many other tools at his disposal to continue pursuing better trade deals and will never stop fighting to put America first.
Other Wisconsin lawmakers also reacted to the SCOTUS decision Friday.
Kurt Bauer, president and CEO of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, also responded to the news of the tariff strike down Friday, saying:
Uncertainty is one of the greatest threats to business, creating additional obstacles that hinder productivity and efficiency. Today’s decision adds to an already confusing tariff landscape. Businesses will be left to wonder how this decision will impact their customers and vendors. Sadly there are more questions than answers at this point.
Potyen says her business has managed to maintain success despite the tariffs, even winning Sheboygan County’s “Retailer of the Year” award just this week.
“It’s not sustainable, though,” she stresses. “We are going to eventually run out of things that are in the warehouse, and we’re going to run out of new products, and people are going to start wanting games. So, the problem being is that games were not ever manufactured here in the United States, and so with that being a problem, we don’t have places for them to go and have them make more. It’s all overseas.”
The SCOTUS ruling felt like a win to Potyen.
“I’ve watched so many companies that I’ve been doing business with for two decades close their businesses this year, or their companies that are in Europe that close their warehouses here in the U.S. because they can no longer work with us,” she says. “So, it’s impactful on every level of our industry, and I’ve watched hundreds of friends lose their jobs this year because of what is going on with tariffs. Just tariffs.”
However, Potyen warns that the impact of the tariffs could still last for several years, because manufacturers create and order toys and games two to three years ahead of when they receive items, so prices can’t come down, she explains.
“The things that are already in the line to come through and to be on the store shelves still had tariffs attached to them, and that was way down the line that those people paid for it, and some of those companies aren’t even in business anymore. So, it’s not [going to] immediately change what’s going on for us.”
Following the SCOTUS ruling, Trump said he would impose another 10% global tariff; then on Saturday he said it would be 15%.
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