Toy Stocks Climb Following Trump's 90-Day Tariff Pause

By Connor Hart

Toy stocks rallied after President Trump placed a 90-day pause on some of the reciprocal tariffs he unleashed this week.

In afternoon trading Wednesday, shares of Mattel rose 5.3% to $15.48, while shares of Hasbro climbed 6.1% to $53.80. Canadian toy maker Spin Master's stock price jumped 7% to $23.22.

Large toy companies took steps to diversify away from China--where about 80% of all toys are manufactured--following tariff threats during Trump's first term and supply chain snarls amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Recently, though, their shares came under pressure after new batches of tariffs became poised to hit the countries to which they had moved production, such as Indonesia, Mexico and Vietnam.

Toy makers warned that products would get more expensive as a result of the levies, as they weighed concerns ranging from just how high prices could go before shoppers cut back on buying toys to what countries from which they could source toy cars and playsets.

After facing pressure from business leaders, Trump took to his Truth Social platform on Wednesday afternoon to announce a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs for all trading partners except China. He said reciprocal tariffs will be lowered to 10% across the board, except for China, which now faces a 125% tariff.

Write to Connor Hart at connor.hart@wsj.com