Trump tariffs putting tens of thousands of board game industry jobs at risk, GAMA says, as it joins second anti-tariffs lawsuit it likens to “a sledgehammer” rather than “a scalpel”

Donald Trump’s emergency tariffs are an “existential crisis” to board game companies and threaten tens of thousands of jobs in the industry, the Game Manufacturer’s Association has said, amid joining its second lawsuit fighting the US President’s ability to unilaterally impose the import charges.

The tabletop gaming trade organisation has spent months fighting the volatile tariffs being imposed by the US on countries including China, where the vast majority of board games are manufactured.

That effort to date has included multiple trips to Washington DC to lobby politicians, conducting dozens of media interviews to highlight the devastating impact of tariffs on the hobby, and supporting a lawsuit disputing Trump’s power to set the tariffs without agreement from the US Congress.

GAMA says that while that lawsuit was “a scalpel”, centered on a narrow set of harms faced by a single company and focused largely on its supply chain with China – the latest suit is “a sledgehammer” – broad and systemic rather than precise and personal.

The trade body is joining with outdoor cookware manufacturer FIREDISC and timber supplier Ryan Wholesale for the new suit, which argues that Trump “unlawfully bypassed Congress and overstepped constitutional boundaries by using emergency powers [specifically the International Emergency Economic Powers Act] to impose widespread tariffs on imports from countries including China, Canada, and Italy”.

GAMA said the new suit aims to address a wider economic impact across multiple sectors, challenges the tariffs on multiple countries rather than just China, and emphasises industry-scale harm, with the hope of amplifying the urgency and scope of the constitutional issues at stake.

“Someone gave the president very bad legal advice,” said Mark Chenoweth, president of the New Civil Liberties Alliance, which has filed the latest suit.

“No prior administration in the nearly 50-year history of the IEEPA thought that it empowered the president to impose tariffs unilaterally.

“By doing so now, this administration has revived the specter of ‘taxation without representation’ over which the American Revolution was fought.”

GAMA executive director John Stacy added, “GAMA strongly supports this lawsuit as a critical effort to restore constitutional oversight of trade and tariffs.

“These emergency tariff orders are economically damaging and threatens tens of thousands of jobs in our industry that relies on international manufacturing and cooperation.”

The case invokes the US Supreme Court’s Major Questions Doctrine, emphasizing that policies with vast
economic and political consequences require clear authorization from Congress – and arguing that IEEPA does not provide for unilateral tariff powers.

Stacy added, “This lawsuit is not just about economic fairness – it’s about restoring constitutional order.”

Board game industry professionals had warned as far back as November last year that punishing import tariffs threatened by then US president-elect Donald Trump could spell a disaster for publishers, distributors and retailers of all sizes.

Trump kicked off his Presidency by imposing a 10% tariff on China in February, and the board game industry was left reeling by the subsequent rapidly escalating trade war between the two countries, which saw US tariffs on China reach 145% on April 9.

That figure was cut to 30% for a 90-day period from May 14, as China and the US engaged in talks to bring the trade war to an end.

The deadline set by the US for China to agree a deal before the tariff rate is potentially hiked again has since been extended to August 12.

The new lawsuit – FIREDISC, Inc; The Game Manufacturers Association; and Ryan Wholesale, Inc v President Donald J Trump et al – was filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas on July 21.