Board game company fights unconstitutional tariffs

Jamey Stegmaier’s entrepreneurial success story began in 2012 as a Kickstarter project for a tabletop game he created while studying at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. His company, Stonemaier Games, has since grown from a two-man operation into a team of eight that’s published more than 20 games, including Wingspan, which took the gaming world by storm in 2019. The company has flourished yet remains centered around its core mission: “To bring joy to tabletops worldwide through memorable, beautiful, fun games” that capture imaginations and build communities of all types of people.

Rebecca Melsky and Eva St. Clair created Princess Awesome & Boy Wonder with the goal of “smashing stereotypes” in kids clothing. Clothes with rainbows and sparkles aren’t just for girls and clothes with trucks and trains aren’t just for boys. Kids defy stereotypes and they deserve clothes that do, too. Their products are high quality and made to last; oh, and they all have pockets.

Back in 1996, Quent Cordair, a self-taught artist and writer, and his wife Linda took a chance and opened Quent Cordair Fine Art (QCFA). They started small and built their gallery into something special—a showcase for “Romantic Realism” in paintings, sculptures, and drawings that celebrate life’s joy, accomplishments, and beauty. With locations in Napa, California, and Jackson, Wyoming, the Cordairs and the 30 painters and sculptors they represent attract collectors from across America and around the world.

Meanwhile, Pete Paulin founded 300 Below, Inc. in 1992 with a commitment to making metals stronger, longer lasting, and better performing through revolutionary deep cryogenic processing. With a deep-freeze technology that extends the life of metal dramatically, 300 Below treats a vast array of products, including rifles, pistols, guitar strings, automotive brake rotors, and sporting equipment. And offering a much longer life for some steel types for just 15% additional cost, the company processes well over a million pounds of steel annually for the likes of motorsports companies, Boeing, and the Raytheon.

Although these businesses are based in the United States— Missouri, Maryland, Wyoming, and Illinois respectively—their success depends on a fair, stable global trade environment. Stonemaier produces games with a long-time trusted partner in China that shares the company’s values of treating both employees and the environment well and that ensures consistent quality. Princess Awesome works with different factories around the world that specialize in certain fabrics and techniques—including two factories in China. The art industry is delicately balanced; Quent and Linda keep their doors open and support dozens of American artists, not just by displaying and selling their pieces but by acquiring art from around the world for their clients. 300 Below has 217 independent operations across 39 countries and relies entirely on China for rotors and other components required for processing, as there is no domestic supplier.

Now, these American entrepreneurs and the companies they built face an unprecedented challenge that threatens their very existence. In February and April 2025, President Trump declared national emergencies purportedly to address border security, synthetic opioids, and so-called trade deficits. Citing “unusual and extraordinary threats” to the U.S. economy and national security, the president has imposed an endlessly changing array of tariffs: a base global tariff of 10% on all countries except Canada and Mexico, tariffs on China up to as much as 145%, and a set of supposedly reciprocal tariffs on countries with goods trade deficits with the United States exist in a state of limbo.

The president claims his tariff authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Passed by Congress in 1977, IEEPA provides that, upon the declaration of a national emergency, the president may exercise certain authorities “to deal with any unusual and extraordinary threat” to national security, foreign policy, or the economy. Historically, IEEPA has been used to impose economic sanctions in furtherance of foreign policy and national security goals—not to impose tariffs. But the statute includes no standards or guidelines for the exercise of those authorities. And IEEPA makes no mention of tariffs.

For nearly 50 years since its enactment, no president until now has relied on IEEPA to impose tariffs. The Constitution gives Congress—not the president—the power to impose tariffs because policies affecting an entire nation should come from the body most representative of the entire nation. And Congress cannot delegate that core legislative power to the president.

The bottom line is that the president is exercising a level of control over tariff policy that he should not have and that Congress cannot constitutionally give him. These tariffs are unconstitutional and cannot stand.

Meanwhile, the economic impact on these small businesses is devastating. Stonemaier Games, like many publishers, faces tariffs for print runs that started before the president took office. The math is brutal—for every $10 spent on manufacturing, Stonemaier is on the hook for $14.50 in tariffs. In fact, the company’s most recent production run is sitting in a warehouse in China with a tariff price tag of $1.5 million. And with $10 million in production costs in 2024, it is staring down the barrel of up to $5 million in unexpected expenses.

Princess Awesome manufactures some products in the United Sates, for many of their other products there are not domestic manufacturers that can produce them for competitive prices while meeting the stringent quality standards that Princess Awesome demands.

The Cordairs are in a similar bind. Tariffs on imported art imperil the survival of their gallery and the livelihoods of their artists. The delicate balance of their business model, which supports dozens of American artists while bringing international works to collectors, is now at risk. And for Pete Paulin, processing that previously made economic sense for his clients could instead see massively diminished returns, destroying the competitive edge that made 300 Below successful for so many decades.

There are tens of thousands of American businesses like these who are harmed by these tariffs. And the rest of us won’t be spared either as tariffs will result in increased prices across the board on the products all Americans buy.

Represented at no charge by Pacific Legal Foundation, Jamey, Rebecca, Eva, Quent, Linda, Pete, and several others are suing the government in federal court for a refund on the tariffs they’ve paid and to restore their right to run their businesses free of illegal government interference, to reassert the proper limits of presidential authority, and restore the separation of powers.