WASHINGTON, D.C. — A board game company in Ohio is joining a lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s tariffs on China. The company’s owner said the levies are especially devastating for independent toy and game companies that rely on China to produce their products at a reasonable cost.

Jordan McLaughlin of New Albany, Ohio, launched his company, Rookie Mage Games, six years ago with its signature game, Don’t Get Stabbed!

Described as a horror comedy game making fun of 1980s slasher movies, Don’t Get Stabbed! is played with cards.

“You have one person who is the killer and all the other players play as victims, and if you get stabbed three times, you're dead and you're out of the game,” McLaughlin said. “So you want to avoid getting stabbed.”

Like the vast majority of board games sold in America, Don’t Get Stabbed! is made in China. McLaughlin said he initially looked for a local manufacturer, but no company would fulfill small-scale orders by independent companies like his. In any case, he said, American manufacturers could not compete with the prices of Chinese companies.

“There just aren't options here. And when I say here, I mean, this hemisphere,” he said.

Don’t Get Stabbed! currently retails for $19.99. But under the new 145% tariff on Chinese imports, McLaughlin said to make a profit he would need to raise the price up to $40.

“That literally destroys my business. There’s no business at that price,” he said.

Trump on Wednesday acknowledged the tariffs could hurt game and toy sales, but that the sacrifice would be worth it because the tariffs would lead to a resurgence of U.S. manufacturing: “Maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, and maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally.”

Rookie Mage Games is among several small businesses joining a lawsuit to reverse the 145% tariff on Chinese imports. The suit claims the tariffs are an unconstitutional abuse of executive power.

While that remains pending, McLaughlin said his plan to hire several more employees this year is now on pause. Rooke Mage Games sold 15,000 board games last year, and McLaughlin expected to sell 20,000 this year. Now, he said, he simply hoped his business could survive past the end of the year, when his inventory will run out.

“If the tariffs are still there at this time, I'm probably just going to look into another job, because the price I would have to charge for people, I don't think they would pay it, especially because they're going to be feeling that tariff pressure,” McLaughlin said. “My game is a luxury, so it's going to be one of those first things that get cut.”

Despite bellicose rhetoric from the White House and Beijing, Chinese officials on Friday signaled they were ready to come to the table for tariff negotiations. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last week said a de-escalation with China would come in the “very near future.”