Visitors tour the China Pavilion at the 2025 North America International Toy Fair in New York, the United States, on March 2, 2025 [Photo/Xinhua]

Over 80 toy suppliers from China brought more than 1,000 products to the 2025 North America International Toy Fair in New York City, drawing great attention from international buyers.

The four-day event ending Tuesday attracted manufacturers, retailers, sales representatives and others from the toy industry from around the world.

The China Pavilion has a strong presence with its unique product designs, many of which were inspired by traditional Chinese culture.

Chinese plush toy brand Bazuuyu with Dongguan Yuankang Toy Manufacturing Co., Ltd. transformed a variety of hotpot ingredients into playful toy designs. Visitors engaged in an interactive experience simulating the process of frying Chinese hotpot. The brand's creativity was recognized with the Powerfully Playful Award from the Toy Fair.

"I'm very proud to bring our local food culture to the United States for more international customers," said Bazuuyu's founder Zhang Guoping, who is from Sichuan province in southwest China, home of the spicy and delicious hot pot.

52Toys, a Beijing-based toy brand, brought many trendy toys with Chinese cultural elements, such as blind boxes with the style of pandas rowing a dragon boat at the Dragon Boat Festival and Chinese traditional ink painting. 52Toys also has a range of toys inspired by Chinese mythology, incorporating mythological images such as the Azure Dragon, White Tiger and Red Phoenix into their toy designs.

"These traditional cultural style products enjoy our self-developed intellectual property (IP). Overseas customers are receptive. We look forward to exploring the North American market with more of our self-developed IP," said Yu Xi, overseas business manager of 52Toys.

The tariff policies brought in by the Trump administration have created new challenges for toy manufacturers. While innovating product designs, Chinese toy makers are also rethinking pricing and production strategies to deal with new tariffs from the United States.

Deng Xiaocheng, founder of Jiangsu Comco Trading Co. Ltd., said that the U.S. market is one of his most important markets, contributing to 40 percent of the company's total toy business. Following the toy fair, Deng's team plans to visit Chicago, Miami, and other cities to strengthen customer relationships.

"As a Chinese brand, we will always try to adapt to the market changes and launch better quality products," said Deng.

China still dominates toy manufacturing today and toy brands can't avoid China though some players seek to diversify their sourcing or production, said Steve Reece, managing director of U.K. consultancy Kids Brand Insight in a presentation at the toy fair on Sunday.

Statistics show that around 80 percent of toys sold in the United States are made in China.