cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/29381241

Donald Trump has threatened to place a 100 percent tariff on Barbie maker Mattel, after the company’s CEO said it would continue to manufacture outside the U.S. but would be reducing its reliance on Chinese imports.

“I’ve heard [Mattel] said: ‘Well we’re going to go counter, we’re going to try going someplace else,’” Trump said in the Oval Office on Thursday. “That’s OK, let him go, and we’ll put a 100 percent tariff on his toys, and he won’t sell one toy in the United States, and that’s their biggest market.”

In an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz was asked whether it would be cheaper to relocate some manufacturing to the U.S. due to the tariffs, but responded: “We don’t see that happening.”