Episode summary
Family-Owned Toymaker Waiting on the Supreme Court | Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Businessweek Daily
· · 12 min · Hosts: Carol Massar, Tim Stenovec · Guests: Rick Woldenberg
Summary
Rick Woldenberg says President Donald Trump’s tariffs hit his family-owned educational-toy businesses, Learning Resources and hand2mind, with sudden and costly disruption. He says the company had to rebuild its supply chain on the fly, divert as much as 30% of office labor to managing the crisis, absorb more than $10 million in extra costs in 2025, raise prices, and accept a smaller business as a result.
Woldenberg argues the lawsuit was driven by duty to his employees, customers and a multigenerational family legacy, not politics. He rejects Trump’s claim that tariff challengers are anti-American, saying the president had no legal right to impose the tax under the authority at issue and that Congress, not the White House, is supposed to approve taxes. He frames the business as “child centric,” not China-centric.
He also says he is not counting on a Supreme Court victory to end tariff risk. Even if the court strikes down the challenged tariffs, he expects the administration to try other tariff authorities, though he says those routes are slower and more legally constrained. On manufacturing in the U.S., his answer is blunt: no, not for the products his companies make.
Key takeaways
- Woldenberg says tariffs forced Learning Resources and hand2mind to rebuild their supply chain and spend more than $10 million in 2025.
- He says up to 30% of office labor was redirected toward surviving the tariff shock, hurting cash flow and raising prices.
- Woldenberg argues he sued to protect employees, customers and a century-old family business, not to make a political statement.
- He says Trump has no legal right to impose the tariff tax at issue without Congress.
- Even if the Supreme Court rules for him, Woldenberg expects the administration to keep pursuing tariffs through other authorities.
Notable quotes
“the imposition of these taxes on our company with no advanced warning and with seemingly no limit threw our supply chain administration completely uh out the window”
“we had an enormous diversion of labor in our office. maybe up to 30% of our manh hours were shifted towards surviving that change”
“well in excess of $10 million in 2025 up from zero in the prior year and so it affected our cash flow”
“I wasn't going to let a politician ruin what we've built up over a hundred years”
“Mr. Trump has no legal right to have imposed this tax on us. It's hurt our business and we've asked the court to adjudicate that”
How the episode opens
Bloomberg Audio Studios podcasts radio news. — You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim Stenc on Bloomberg Radio.
Well, again seeing some tariff related stocks take a hit today. Mattel Hasbro, Lululemon, for example. All falling after the Supreme Court did not rule on challenges to President Donald Trump's tariffs.
So, we are waiting until at least next week to learn the fate of his signature economic policy. Rick Waldenberg is also waiting. He's a business owner who's challenging President Trump's tariffs at the Supreme Court.
Rick is CEO of the family-owned educational toy company's learning resources and handto-mind. Rick was profiled late last year in a must-read story by Gregor, Bloomberg News Supreme Court reporter. Rick joins us now from Chicago.
Greg joins us too from our Washington DC bureau. Welcome to both of you. Uh Rick, two young kids.
I'm very familiar with the learning resources part of the business. My mother-in-law, uh that's like her go-to gift for our kids. So, we love it.
Um I I want you to start just with how have tariff how tariffs have affected your business. Just walk us through what it's looked like over the last year.
Well, tariffs have had a dramatic effect on our business. the the imposition of these taxes on our company with no advanced warning and with seemingly no limit threw our supply chain administration completely uh out the window. We had to rebuild our supply chain on the fly.
It was a significant disruption in how we manufactured our product. Um and so we had an enormous diversion of labor in our office. maybe up to 30% of our manh hours were shifted towards surviving that change also obviously created a huge cost well in excess of $10 million in 2025 up from zero in the prior year and so it affected our cash flow.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- supreme court
- tariffs
- trade policy
- family business
- toy industry
Companies and tickers mentioned
- Learning Resources
- hand2mind
Watch the episode
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Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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