Airbnb may finally pay the price of long-simmering tensions about overtourism in Spain.
The Spanish government announced on Monday that it has fined the online rentals giant 64 million euros ($75 million) for advertising unlicensed rental listings in the country. This decision is the latest in several months of back-and-forths, as the government previously ordered Airbnb to remove more than 120,000 listings it identified as unlicensed.
While Spains Consumer Affairs Ministry said the fine was a final decision and couldnt be appealed, San Francisco-based Airbnb is reportedly planning to challenge it in court. The company didnt immediately respond to a request for comment from Fast Company.
ADDRESSING HOUSING CRISIS
A record 94 million foreigners visited Spain last year, a 10% increase from 2023, making it one of the most-visited countries in the world by tourists. But the proliferation of private tourist accommodations has contributed to a housing crisis and there have been several, large anti-tourism protests in the country in recent years.
Tasked with addressing the housing crisis is Pablo Bustinduy, the consumer affairs minister.
“There are thousands of families living on the edge because of the housing situation, while a few enrich themselves with business models that force people out of their homes,” Bustinduy said in a statement. No company in Spain, however large or powerful, can be above the law.”
AIRBNB RESPONDS
Airbnb issued a statement to several news organizations indicating that it has been working with the Spanish government since short-term rental rules changed in July to enforce a new registration system. On its website, Airbnb also has a lengthy explanation about responsible hosting in Spain.
“Airbnb is confident that the ministry actions are contrary to applicable regulations in Spain and we intend to challenge this fine in court,” a company spokesperson said in a statement published by Reuters.
Rental listings in Spain are still available for booking on Airbnbs website. While other companies similarly facilitate private rental agreements, this particular platforms popularity has made it a target of anti-tourism sentiment in Spain and beyond.
In the southern beach town of Tarifa, for example, Airbnb indicates there are more than 800 listings available for a one-week, off-season rental in January. Whats more, there are also dozens of hotels in the area. The town has a population of less than 20,000 people.
For the three months ended in Sept. 30, Airbnb reported quarterly revenue of nearly $2 billion for the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region, its second-largest market behind North America. That marked a 14% gain from the same period a year ago, more than the companys revenue growth of 10% across all regions.
For a company with a market cap of more than $79 billion, investors dont seem too concerned about the prospect of a $75 million fine. Airbnb shares rose more than 2% in mid-day trading Monday, even as the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fell about 0.5%.
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After announcing another 25-basis-point cut to the Federal Reserves short-term rate, Fed Chair Jerome Powellwhose term ends on May 15, 2026was asked about the U.S. housing market.
Powell acknowledged that recent rate cuts wont restore affordability to the U.S. housing market. He suggested that the country needs to build more housing unitsand noted that central bankers don’t really have the tools to address it.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters on December 10, 2025:
So the housing market faces some really significant challenges, and I don’t know that, you know, a 25 basis point decline in the federal funds rate is going to make much of a difference for people.
You know, housing supply is low. Many people have very, very low, low, low rate mortgages from the pandemic period, and they kept refinancing and caught the really low. So it’s expensive to them to move. And you know, we’re a ways away from that changing.
Also, we’re just, we haven’t built enough housing in the country for a long time, and so a lot of estimates suggest that we just need more housing of different kinds. So housing is going to be, you know, a problem, and you know, really the tools to address it are we can, we can raise and lower interest rates, but we don’t really have the tools to address, you know, a secular housing shortage, a structural housing shortage.
While Powell appears to suggest that a structural housing shortage is the underlying issue in the U.S. housing market, he acknowledged back in October that the Fed may have kept purchasing mortgage-backed securities (MBS) for too long during the Pandemic Housing Boomthough he added that its challenging to determine if and by how much it actually helped overheat the housing market during that period.
Over the past year-plus, as the U.S. labor market has softenedwith the last published U.S. unemployment rate (4.4%) a solid clip above the cycle low in April 2023 (3.4%)and as the Federal Reserve has sought to move from restrictive toward neutral policy by making several cuts to short-term rates, weve also seen long-term yields and mortgage rates come down from their cycle highs.
While Powell may be right that Fed policy changes right now alone are unlikely to return the U.S. housing market to average levels of affordabilitywere currently in the upper bandits worth noting that the recent mild decline in long-term interest rates, which the Fed does not directly set but which are influenced by financial markets expectations for the economy and future Fed policy, has been one of the levers that has helped nationally aggregated housing affordability improve a little this year.
Indeed, last week the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate, as tracked by Freddie Mac, was 6.22%well below the cycle high of 7.79% reached in October 2023.
“The bottom line is it appears 30-year mortgage rates will be in current range for some time barring a recession or a crisis,” wrote housing analyst Bill McBride earlier this week.
Mortgage rates could still drift modestly lower next year, particularly if the spread between the 10-year Treasury yield and the 30-year fixed mortgage rate continues to compress. But the easiest mortgage-rate declines may already be behind us.
To see a truly material downward shift in mortgage rates next year, many analysts believe it would take a more significant weakening in the labor market.
Hypothetically speaking, if the unemployment rate were to spike and the economy weakened, financial markets could respond with a flight to safetydriving up demand for Treasuries, which would push bond prices higher and yields (including mortgage rates) lower. At the same time, the Fed could respond with emergency cuts to the federal funds rate and, if the downturn were severe enough, potentially resume purchases of mortgage-backed securities (MBS), adding further downward pressure on mortgage rates.
There are boy aquariums all over the United States,” a TikTok creator explains in a recent post.
The video then shows a clip of someone carrying a bucket filled with hockey pucks. Come feed the fish at the boy aquarium with me, the closed captions read. The person tosses the pucks onto the rink as players skate past.
On TikTok, ice hockey arenas have been rebranded as boy aquariums.” Videos show women tapping against the battered Plexiglas, filming the players warming up and encouraging others to go on a girls night to the rink.
The players themselves are in on the joke. Earlier this year, the official TikTok of the Canadian junior ice hockey team Moncton Wildcats posted: So were calling this the boy aquarium now? as the players skate around the enclosed rink. Another video, posted last week, shows the University of Cincinnati mens ice hockey team on a field trip to an actual aquarium.
Fans are encouraging others to go and watch the sport. You look happier, the on-screen text reads on one clip, Thanks, I went to the boy aquarium with my besties.
The National Hockey Leagues fan base overall is young, diverse, and online. Over half, 54%, are under the age of 44, according to Sport Radar, the second-youngest among the four major U.S. leagues. And the new legion of overwhelmingly female fans filling stadiums can be traced, in part, back to the popularity of BookToks favorite ice-hockey romance genre.
The uninitiated may be surprised to learn there are thousands of novels in this niche subcategory, the most popular being Hannah Graces romance bestseller Icebreaker, which went viral in 2022 with the story of a competitive figure skater and hockey team captain forced to share a rink (cue romantic entanglement).
Capitalizing on the hype, social-media teams regularly publish videos of players reading spicy chapters of Icebreaker or Pucking Around, another hockey romance bestseller by Emily Rath.
“Heated Rivalry”, currently airing on HBO Max, has only added to the hockey fever, spawning thousands of reaction videos on TikTok and Instagram. With its steamy gay hockey romance storyline, based on Rachel Reid’s Game Changers novels, the Canadian import has topped the streaming charts following the release of episode 4.
While tongue-in-cheek, the boy aquarium trend also risks playing into harmful stereotypes of female sports fans. The puck bunny insult has long been levelled at young female hockey fans, just as groupie has historically been used to belittle female music fans.
Ice Hockey UK and The Elite League recently condemned a Financial Times article about British romance readers discovering ice hockey. The tone of the article is not just absurd and inaccurate in relation to ice hockey, but also to women who watch sport in general, Ice Hockey UK CEO Henry Staelens said in a statement. Something that shouldnt even be a talking point in todays society.
Female sports fans have long fought to be taken seriously, and social media trends – while harmless on the surface – risk erasing their passion and knowledge of the sport, replaced instead by a backdrop for a fictional trope.
Whether lifelong fans, or recent BookTok converts, ice hockey as an industry is heating up. The NHL league’s 32 clubs average valuation climbed 15% year-over-year to $2.2 billion, Forbes recently reported, more than double where they were just three years ago.
While some may come for the fictional hockey players, they stay for the sport.
Its official: 2025 was the year of slop.
Merriam-Webster just announced in a post that its human editors have chosen slop as the 2025 Word of the Year.
The dictionarys official definition of the word is digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence, a far cry from its original meaning. When the term was first coined in the 1700s, slop meant soft mud, before slowly morphing into a synonym for rubbish. Today, it’s the perfect four-letter word for the state of the internet.
In 2025, amid all the talk about AI threats, slop set a tone thats less fearful, more mocking, the dictionary’s post reads. The word sends a little message to AI: when it comes to replacing human creativity, sometimes you dont seem too superintelligent.
How slop took over everything
The concept of slop dominated the collective consciousness this year, from the content we consumed to the food we literally ate.
Mere days into 2025, AI slopthe variety of click-harvesting, sensationalized, brain-melting content thats likely taken over your Facebook feedwas already raising alarms. In the wake of the fires that devastated the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of L.A. this January, AI clips of heartwarming rescues began circulating to capitalize on the tragedy. In March, a study from Cornell University revealed that an influx of AI slop was slowly beginning to suffocate the web.
Since then, the problem has only escalated. Weve seen a concerning wave of fake Holocaust AI content; AI slop used in political messaging by former New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo and President Trump himself; and AI-generated tributes to conservative pundit Charlie Kirk in the wake of his assassination. AI slop has thoroughly weasled its way into the marketing and advertising spheres, so much so that companies like Pinterest have had to roll out new filters to allow users to dial back the AI content. Everywhere you look, its slop all the way down.
The flood of slop in 2025 included absurd videos, off-kilter advertising images, cheesy propaganda, fake news that looks pretty real, junky AI-written books, ‘workslop’ reports that waste coworkers time and lots of talking cats, Merriam-Webster wrote in its report. It added, Like slime, sludge, and muck, slop has the wet sound of something you dont want to touch.
One good slop-based item did emerge this year, though: the slop bowl, a new colloquial term for the preferred meal of office workers that involves a bowl full of a bunch of mixed ingredients. In 2025, we doomscrolled our slop and ate it, too.
The value of cryptocurrency XRP continues to slide, dipping as low as $1.92 as of Monday morning. XRPthe native crypto token of the XRP Ledger, created by Ripple Labshas seen its value hover around the $2 mark for roughly a month, and has been on a downward trend since late July, when values peaked at more than $3.50.
Values remained elevated through most of the summer months, catalyzed by U.S. regulators dropping legal actions against Ripple Labs, which had stretched on for several years. Additionally and subsequently, XRP ETFs have hit exchanges, theoretically broadening XRPs appeal and reach within the crypto space. That, it seems, should have increased demand and XRP prices, but that has not materialized.
The question, then, is why XRPs price has continued to fallor seems stuck around $2?
On a recent episode of the Paul Barron Podcast, Zach Rector, a crypto market analyst, said that the launch of numerous XRP ETFs is going to lead to price action, but as for why the price isnt going up more immediately with recent inflows into the ETFs, Rector says theres a simple answer.
In the month of November, there was $808 million in outflows on centralized exchanges. Thats people selling to dollars or stablecoins and leaving XRP, he said. And on the other side, of the ETF equation, there was $803 million of inflows into the ETFs, he added, saying that in all, the movement of value has been somewhat mutedespecially since some of that money is moving over-the-counter, rather than on exchanges, meaning that it could also have little effect on market prices.
In other words, public and private sales and demand for XRP may not yet be reflected in market value.
Of course, what happens next is anyones guess.
Its also important to note that Bitcoin, the largest and most popular cryptocurrency, has likewise seen values decline over the past couple of months, as has Ethereumso, XRP isnt necessarily alone in experiencing recent price declines. XRPs price history is volatile, too, especially given its legal hangups over the past few years.
While its current sub-$2 valuation is the lowest in some time, XRP prices did hover between $0.30 and $0.80 for most of 2022, 2023, and 2024. It saw a major breakout in October of last year, with values rocketing from around $0.50 to more than $3 by January 2025.
As the rest of the world rushes to harness the power of artificial intelligence, militant groups also are experimenting with the technology, even if they aren’t sure exactly what to do with it.For extremist organizations, AI could be a powerful tool for recruiting new members, churning out realistic deepfake images and refining their cyberattacks, national security experts and spy agencies have warned.Someone posting on a pro-Islamic State group website last month urged other IS supporters to make AI part of their operations. “One of the best things about AI is how easy it is to use,” the user wrote in English.“Some intelligence agencies worry that AI will contribute (to) recruiting,” the user continued. “So make their nightmares into reality.”IS, which had seized territory in Iraq and Syria years ago but is now a decentralized alliance of militant groups that share a violent ideology, realized years ago that social media could be a potent tool for recruitment and disinformation, so it’s not surprising that the group is testing out AI, national security experts say.For loose-knit, poorly resourced extremist groups or even an individual bad actor with a web connection AI can be used to pump out propaganda or deepfakes at scale, widening their reach and expanding their influence.“For any adversary, AI really makes it much easier to do things,” said John Laliberte, a former vulnerability researcher at the National Security Agency who is now CEO of cybersecurity firm ClearVector. “With AI, even a small group that doesn’t have a lot of money is still able to make an impact.”
How extremist groups are experimenting
Militant groups began using AI as soon as programs like ChatGPT became widely accessible. In the years since, they have increasingly used generative AI programs to create realistic-looking photos and video.When strapped to social media algorithms, this fake content can help recruit new believers, confuse or frighten enemies and spread propaganda at a scale unimaginable just a few years ago.Such groups spread fake images two years ago of the Israel-Hamas war depicting bloodied, abandoned babies in bombed-out buildings. The images spurred outrage and polarization while obscuring the war’s actual horrors. Violent groups in the Middle East used the photos to recruit new members, as did antisemitic hate groups in the U.S. and elsewhere.Something similar happened last year after an attack claimed by an IS affiliate killed nearly 140 people at a concert venue in Russia. In the days after the shooting, AI-crafted propaganda videos circulated widely on discussion boards and social media, seeking new recruits.IS also has created deepfake audio recordings of its own leaders reciting scripture and used AI to quickly translate messages into multiple languages, according to researchers at SITE Intelligence Group, a firm that tracks extremist activities and has investigated IS’ evolving use of AI.
‘Aspirational’ for now
Such groups lag behind China, Russia or Iran and still view the more sophisticated uses of AI as “aspirational,” according to Marcus Fowler, a former CIA agent who is now CEO at Darktrace Federal, a cybersecurity firm that works with the federal government.But the risks are too high to ignore and are likely to grow as the use of cheap, powerful AI expands, he said.Hackers are already using synthetic audio and video for phishing campaigns, in which they try to impersonate a senior business or government leader to gain access to sensitive networks. They also can use AI to write malicious code or automate some aspects of cyberattacks.More concerning is the possibility that militant groups may try to use AI to help produce biological or chemical weapons, making up for a lack of technical expertise. That risk was included in the Department of Homeland Security’s updated Homeland Threat Assessment, released earlier this year.“ISIS got on Twitter early and found ways to use social media to their advantage,” Fowler said. “They are always looking for the next thing to add to their arsenal.”
Countering a growing threat
Lawmakers have floated several proposals, saying there’s an urgent need to act.Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said, for instance, that the U.S. must make it easier for AI developers to share information about how their products are being used by bad actors, whether they are extremists, criminal hackers or foreign spies.“It has been obvious since late 2022, with the public release of ChatGPT, that the same fascination and experimentation with generative AI the public has had would also apply to a range of malign actors,” Warner said.During a recent hearing on extremist threats, House lawmakers learned that IS and al-Qaida have held training workshops to help supporters learn to use AI.Legislation that passed the U.S. House last month would require homeland security officials to assess the AI risks posed by such groups each year.Guarding against the malicious use of AI is no different from preparing for more conventional attacks, said Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, the bill’s sponsor.“Our policies and capabilities must keep pace with the threats of tomorrow,” he said.
David Klepper, Associated Press
Since the tragic news broke that director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, have died, tributes have been pouring in.
And amid the stories of kindness, compassion, and political action, one story stands out: How the couple’s chance first meeting altered the ending of the 1989 classic When Harry Met Sallypossibly the most beloved romantic comedy of all time.
Had the couple not met during filming, the movie’s memorable New Year’s Eve ending might’ve not been a part of the film at all.
During production of the iconic rom-com in New York City, photographer Michele Singer Reiner (then Michele Singer) stopped by the set. According to a 1989 New York Times article, the director, who was earlier divorced from Penny Marshall, spotted her and instantly felt moved.
I look over and I see this girl, and Whoo! I was attracted immediately, Reiner told the news outlet.
The two were introduced by cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld, fell in love, and were married just months after meeting, in the same year the film was ultimately released.
Cynical ending becomes more hopeful
The meeting didn’t just change Reiner’s own love story, however. It prompted a new ending to the film, ensuring that Harry and Sally’s love would also last forever.
“Originally, Harry and Sally didnt get together. But then I met Michele and I thought: OK, I see how this works, he told The Guardian in 2018.
After falling in love with Michele, the director, who had been single for many years at the start of filming, scrapped the film’s cynical ending, which had Harry and Sally bumping into each other on the street years after their romance, chatting, and walking off in separate directions.
In its place, was the ending we now know and love.
It was during the scene that Billy Crystal said to Meg Ryan one of the most quotable lines in the film: “When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with someone, you want the rest of your life to start right now!”
With a screenplay written by Nora Ephron, the movie went on to become influential in the bourgeoning rom-com genre that dominated the 1990s.
A relationship that crossed into film and politics
The director and his photographer wife would work together on a number of projects, including Misery and the newly released comedy Spinal Tap II. But their ventures weren’t just creative onesthey were dedicated to making the world a better place and speaking out in the political sphere.
Together, they started the I Am Your Child campaign, which urged a focus on early childhood development, and championed a California bill that directed tobacco taxes toward prenatal care and early childhood programs.
Reiner also cofounded the American Foundation for Equal Rights, which was instrumental in overturning the ban on same-sex marriage in the state.
The director once joked that Michele, who took Donald Trump’s photo for the cover of his book The Art of the Deal, “has a lot to atone for.” But in reality, she was his biggest inspiration, inspiring him to fight for causes he believed in.
“I can honestly say the reason I’ve done so many things politically is because of her,” he told Stephen Colbert at the Montclair Film Festival in 2016. She is my Bunsen burner that lights the flame in my ass.
The couple remained together until their tragic death on Sunday. The Los Angeles Police Department has said it is investigating their deaths as an “apparent homicide.”
A leading candidate to be President Donald Trump’s choice for Federal Reserve chair said that he would present the president’s views to Fed officials for their consideration but they could reject them if they chose when making decisions on interest rates.Kevin Hassett, in an interview Sunday on CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” said he would continue to speak with Trump if he becomes the Fed chair. But when asked if Trump’s opinions on interest rates would have “equal weighting” with members of the Fed’s interest-rate setting committee, Hassett replied, “No, he would have no weight.”“His opinion matters if it’s good, if it’s based on data,” Hassett continued. “And then if you go to the committee and you say, well, the president made this argument and that’s a really sound argument, I think, what do you think? If they reject it, then they’ll vote in a different way.”Hassett’s comments come as Trump is reportedly in final interviews with potential replacements for the Fed’s current chair, Jerome Powell. Trump has emphasized that he expects whomever he nominates to lead the Fed will sharply lower the central bank’s key rate, which currently stands at about 3.6%. Trump has said it should be cut to 1% or lower, a view almost no economist shares. Trump’s outspokenness has raised concerns about the Fed’s independence from day-to-day politics under any chair he appoints.Until Trump’s first election in 2016, presidents of both parties for several decades had avoided commenting publicly on Fed decisions, and usually refrained from doing so privately as well. Economists generally believe that a politically independent Fed is better at combating inflation, because it can take unpopular steps to keep prices down, such as raise interest rates.On Friday, however, Trump said that he “certainly should have a role in talking to whoever the head of the Fed is” about rates.“I’ve done great. I’ve made a lot of money, I’m very successful,” he said. “I think my voice should be heard.”The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Kevin Warsh, a fellow at the right-leaning Hoover Institution and former Fed governor, is Trump’s current favorite to replace Powell, whose term ends next May. But Trump has previously hinted that he would pick Hassett.“I think the two Kevins are great,” Trump told the Journal.Hassett, for his part, on Sunday said that “in the end, the job of the Fed is to be independent.”“In the end, it’s a committee that votes,” he said. “And I’d be happy to talk to the president every day until both of us are dead because it’s so much fun.”
Christopher Rugaber, AP Economics Writer
If you grew up pre-Y2K, chances are youre familiar with the concept of a lava lamp. Its much less likely that youve ever encountered a lamp made out of literal lava.
Thats the basic description of a series of three lamps made by the luxury Italian lighting company Foscarini. The companys new Alicudi, Filicudi, and Panarea lamps, designed by Italian father-and-son design team Alberto and Francesco Meda, are formed from actual lava rock sourced from Mount Vesuvius. To own a piece of Italys iconic volcano, youll have to fork over $866 for any one of the lamp models.
[Photo: courtesy Foscarini]
The real lava lamp may be pricier than its 70s predecessor, but thats thanks to the labor-intensive process that goes into recycling the actual lava into a workable materialand converting it into an object youd actually want to hang in your dining room.
[Photo: courtesy Foscarini]
How an Italian design company made lamps from literal lava
When Alberto and Francesco began brainstorming for the collaboration with Foscarini, they wanted to experiment with a material that would be entirely new in the lighting world. Francesco is already the co-art director of the company Ranieri, which works exclusively with lava stone to create bespoke tiles, tables, and stoolsmaking lava stone a natural fit for this new project.
Alberto and Francesco Meda [Photo: Giuliano Koren/courtesy Foscarini]
Unlike marble, lava is not quarried: it is gathered directly from the mountain, Francesco said in a press release. After an eruption the magma settles, becoming part of the terrain and forming blocks of lavic stone that can be crafted. The cutting process generates a large quantity of surplus chips, which we wanted to salvage.
The Alicudi, Filicudi, and Panarea lamps use recycled lava chips, provided by Ranieri and left over from its other projects, as the main material composing their shades. To convert them into lamps, the scrap chips are crushed into a powder with varying grain sizes; mixed with a binder to produce a paste; poured into molds; and finished by hand to create a unique surface on every piece.
[Photo: courtesy Foscarini]
According to the team, this poured-lava composite is lighter than solid lava, allowing it to form thinner shapes while still maintaining its durability. As an added bonus, natural lava has a rugged surface full of pores and craterssimilar to a moon or planetscape. It might not be gooey, glowing lava, but it has its own atmospheric charm.
[Photo: courtesy Foscarini]
The Ah Louis Store in San Luis Obispo, California, turns into a winter wonderland every holiday season.Green garlands, giant nutcrackers, baubles and bows go up in early November on the historic downtown building that houses the gift shop. Inside, customers can choose from over 500 different types of ornaments and a variety of holiday gift baskets.“We really just make it a magical spot,” co-owner Emily Butler said. “Whether you come in or not, we want to make sure that we’re spreading that holiday joy.”But Butler says she and her twin sister-business partner had to work harder this year to turn browsers into buyers and to make a profit. Many of the decorations and stocking stuffers they sell are made overseas and either did not arrive or got more expensive when President Donald Trump imposed unusually high taxes on imported goods, she said.In response, the sisters focused their selection on more profitable items like nutcrackers and gift baskets. They’ve also noticed customers cutting back, selecting a $100 gift basket over the $150 version, or buying one ornament instead of several, Butler said.“We’re definitely seeing more cautious spending this year,” she said.Along with the unpredictable tariffs, stubborn inflation and weak hiring have shaken consumer confidence in the U.S. economy. The vast majority of U.S. adults say they’ve noticed higher than usual prices for groceries, electricity and holiday gifts in recent months, according to a December poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.A Gallup index that summarizes Americans’ assessments of current economic conditions fell to a 17-month low in November. Consumers also indicated less enthusiasm for spending money on holiday gifts; their estimated gift budgets decreased $229 between October and November, the largest drop Gallup has recorded at that point of the holiday shopping season. The survey was conducted in November, partially during the government shutdown, which might have tempered spending plans.However, the worst-case impact on consumer prices that many economists foresaw from the Trump administration’s tariff policies hasn’t materialized. Some products have been affected more than others. Here’s a look at what has happened with supplies and prices in popular gifting categories.
Games and toys
Game and toys were particularly susceptible to tariff-related price increases since the majority of the ones sold in the U.S. are made in China, according to industry trade group The Toy Association. The tariff rate the Trump administration imposed on Chinese goods became a rollercoaster that started at an additional 10%, peaked at 145% and ended up at 47%.The uncertainty made it hard for toy shops to decide what to order for the holidays. Dean Smith, who co-owns independent toy stores JaZams in Princeton, New Jersey, and Lahaska, Pennsylvania, said the manufacturers in China that he buys toys from did not pass on their tariff costs all at once but he has seen their prices inch higher with every reorder.Smith estimated that wholesale prices for 80% of his inventory went up anywhere from 5% to 20%. Some shoppers who don’t buy toys regularly might be surprised by price increases he adopted in turn, Smith said. A doll that sold for $20 to $25 last year now costs $30 to $35 at JaZams, he said.“For folks with marginal incomes, this is going to be a very difficult holiday,” Smith said.
Electronics
Consumer electronics are mostly made in China and other Asian countries. In 2023, China accounted for 78% of U.S. smartphone imports, and 79% of laptop and tablet imports, according to the Consumer Technology Association trade group.Best Buy said in May that it was raising prices due to tariffs. But CEO Corie Barry said late last month that the consumer electronics chain made sure to stock computers, phones and other products at different price levels, a decision she credited with helping Best Buy attract more lower-income shoppers.“The consumer is not a monolith,” Barry told reporters.Game consoles are always a popular holiday item, and console makers made news earlier this year when they announced price increases. Sony raised the price of the PlayStation 5 by $50 to $550 in August, following Microsoft and Nintendo raising prices for their game consoles.
Jewelry
Jewelry shoppers will likely see higher prices, but that has more to do with the soaring price of gold than tariffs so far, according to David Bonaparte, president & CEO of trade group Jewelers of America.The varying tax rates Trump set for countries that import American goods with a total value less than their exports to the U.S. affected jewelry in various ways. Watches from Switzerland, for example, were subject to a 39% tariff from July 31 until the country struck a deal with the Trump administration last month to lower the import tax rate on its products to 15%.India, which refines many of the diamonds sold in the U.S., rushed in shipments of the gemstones before a 50% tariff on the country’s products took effect on Aug. 27. Higher prices for jewelry made with diamonds shipped from India will likely start to be felt in 2026, Bonaparte said.“It’s really a matter of what happens after Jan. 1,” he said. “If these tariffs are still in place, then prices will probably increase.”
Holiday decor
Holiday decorations are yet another category that mostly comes from overseas, particularly China.Jeremy Rice co-owns House, a home-décor shop in Lexington, Kentucky, that specializes in artificial flowers, wreaths and table decorations. He said the tariffs slowed down production of much of his fall stock and seasonal merchandise like ribbon. Some larger and more expensive items he didn’t order at all because they would have been too expensive to retail.Rice raised prices on the products he did get. The popular red berry stems that House long has carried increased from $8.95 last year to $10.95 due to higher import costs, he said.“We sell thousands of these berry stems, and every time we sold one, I flinched from knowing what it should have been, knowing that our supplier paid more for them, which made us pay more for them, which made our customer pay more for them,” Rice said.
Shopping strategically
For those looking to avoid tariff-related price increases, John Harmon, managing director of technology research at technology consulting company Coresight Resarch, recommends checking out secondhand stores and discount retailers like T.J. Maxx, Marshall’s and HomeGoods. The off-price chains buy much of their inventory from leftover stock that would have entered the U.S. before new tariffs kicked in.Joe Adamski, senior director at procurement services company ProcureAbility, said books, food and beverages are some of the domestically produced goods that make good gifts.
Mae Anderson, AP Business Writer
