Double Suppression of Trade Tariffs and Conservative Regulation
The American intimate industry is facing an unprecedented policy siege, suffering from dual suppression of escalating trade tariffs and regressive conservative regulatory policies, forming a systematic industry suppression environment. In terms of trade policies, the continuous surge of tariffs from 25% to 145% has completely disrupted the supply chain operation, bringing huge cost pressure to brands and retailers. In terms of industry supervision, a series of restrictive laws have continuously compressed the living space of the intimate industry since 2018.
The FOSTA/SESTA bills signed by Trump in 2018, originally intended to curb online sex trafficking, have become tools to suppress the sexual health industry. The bills have forced intimate industry practitioners and sex education experts out of major Internet platforms, making authoritative sexual health and product information increasingly difficult to obtain for American consumers. In 2023, the U.S. further promoted age verification laws, requiring visitors to adult content websites to provide government ID or complete facial recognition verification, with one-third of U.S. regions officially implementing the regulation.
Recently, Texas proposed a new bill requiring mandatory official age verification for online purchase of intimate toys, further raising the threshold for consumer transactions. Mandy Salley, COO of the Woodhull Freedom Foundation, pointed out that the U.S. intimate industry is experiencing systematic strangulation, with consumers’ adult pleasure autonomy and industry practitioners’ operating rights being layered compressed. The superimposed impact of trade war tariffs and conservative regulatory policies has pushed the entire American intimate industry into a difficult dilemma of shrinking market and rising costs.