A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
U.S. businesses are working to recover from President Trump's sweeping tariff policy. The American toy company Learning Resources is one of them. It's based out of Chicago - outside of Chicago and has been a family business for generations. And it imports most of its educational toys from China. And at one point last year, the company was paying $44 in tariffs for every dollar it paid before. CEO Rick Woldenberg says he felt compelled to act.
RICK WOLDENBERG: When the cost of importing from overseas skyrocketed into the stratosphere, we decided to sue.
MARTÍNEZ: Woldenberg's case made it to the Supreme Court, and in a 6-3 ruling last week, the court sided with him and struck down many of the president's tariffs. Our co-host Steve Inskeep asked Woldenberg why he chose to challenge the president when so many have stopped short.
WOLDENBERG: We have a strong sense of community, the legacy of being a multigenerational business, but also as a mission-driven business, we exist to help kids get a great start in life, and you're fueled by your sense of meaning and purpose in what you do. We also have about 500 employees, and their families depend on this company for their livelihood. You know, I just felt like we had to stand up for this. No one was going to save us but ourselves, and I was angry, too. And so we just decided we had to stand up for ourself. But we didn't take on Mr. Trump. This is not us against Mr. Trump. This is us against the misapplication of law. Our original filing in April of '25 described our case as a case in the public interest because actually, we were just attacking the fact that this was an unlawful tax. And, you know, find me an American that wants to pay a tax they don't have to.
STEVE INSKEEP, BYLINE: I wonder if there was something more than money here because you describe yourself as a company that's trying to help kids, help the community, is part of the community. And the case for tariffs is that you were hurting America and denying jobs to Americans and doing a bad thing.
WOLDENBERG: It's hard for me to make any concession that we're doing a bad thing. Our company has created hundreds of jobs that are high-paying jobs. We're a user and consumer of American-made products that are used to propel our business as a technology company. We make products that are in use in basically every school in the country, so everyone kind of depends on products that we make.
INSKEEP: Wait a minute. Let me stop you for a second. You're bringing stuff from overseas to sell, but you said you were using American-made products in your business. You consume them.
WOLDENBERG: Well, sure, because our business has a very large distribution aspect to it. So we have five warehouses, over 1 million square feet of warehouse that houses our inventory. And, you know, the logistical equipment and the software is all from America. You came to our facility and saw how automated it was. You go, wow, this is a very up-to-date factory. But actually, it's just a highly automated distribution facility that depends on American-made technology. So, like, we spend a lot of money here on infrastructure, we consume and use American technology. It's just hard for me to identify what we've done wrong.
INSKEEP: So you asserted your rights under the law, and that's been the end of it.
WOLDENBERG: Well, I would say that this is a demonstration of the American system. So the power, money, elite status doesn't matter because we're all equal under the law. And so we raised a legitimate legal issue. It was heard fair and square by several courts, including the Supreme Court, and we won at every level because we were right. And in the American system, it doesn't matter who's on the other side. It doesn't matter if they're higher or lower. The law governs this. We're all equal under the law. In this case, we were right and the tariffs were held unlawful end of story.
INSKEEP: How did you celebrate?
WOLDENBERG: (Laughter) There's been no time for celebrating (laughter).
INSKEEP: Really?
WOLDENBERG: But it was certainly satisfying to be vindicated.
INSKEEP: Rick Woldenberg is CEO of Learning Resources, which is based in Illinois. Thanks so much.
WOLDENBERG: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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