Washington's tariff hikes against Chinese imports would inflict irreparable harm on American consumers and businesses, the U.S. Toy Association said on Tuesday.
The U.S. government increased additional tariffs on 200 billion U.S. dollars' worth of Chinese goods from 10 percent to 25 percent on Friday, and has threatened to raise tariffs on more Chinese imports.
Tariff increases are "damaging tactics that amount to nothing more than a tax on American families and their children," said the New York-based association in a statement.
And the latest tariff threat, which would virtually subject all Chinese imports including toys to higher levies, "would irreparably harm American families, jobs, and businesses," it added.
In response to the new round of U.S. protectionist moves, China has announced that it will raise additional tariffs on a range of U.S. imports from June 1, and "will fight to the end."
"The return of a dark tariff cloud threatening the toy and retail communities would sharply increase the cost of toys and cause irreparable harm to companies of all sizes -- particularly American small businesses," said Steve Pasierb, president and CEO of the association.
These tariffs "will lead to projected losses of tens of thousands of U.S. jobs," he added.
Any claim that tariffs are or will be paid for by other countries "is a lie," and the truth is that U.S. families and companies are taking a toll through higher consumer prices and decreased profits, he said.
"Tariffs that have been imposed so far have caused U.S. businesses to lay off workers, raised prices for consumers, hurt American farm exports, and threatened an otherwise productive economy," said the statement.
New tariffs on toys would destroy U.S. businesses and ruin Christmas, birthdays, and other special occasions for kids, it noted.
Founded in 1916, the Toy Association is a not-for-profit trade association representing the toy, game and youth entertainment product businesses that drive the annual 28-billion-dollar U.S. toy market.
