Rick Woldenberg, 66, is set to attend President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night as a guest of U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider.
Woldenberg’s presence highlights his role in a landmark constitutional challenge to Trump’s tariff policies. Woldneberg’s company, hand2mind, were among the lead plaintiffs suing the Trump administration over its use of tariff authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
“Rick Woldenberg is just one of thousands of American business owners whose companies, small and large, have been severely affected by President Trump’s illegal, chaotic, and harmful tariffs over the past year,” Rep. Schneider said in the press release announcing the invitation.
In a 6-3 decision last week, the Supreme Court ruled that the president had exceeded his legal authority by imposing sweeping global tariffs without Congressional approval. The Court’s decision struck down those tariffs as unconstitutional.
Who is Rick Woldenberg?
Woldenberg is the CEO of Learning Resources, an educational toy and learning material company based in Illinois.
It manufactures educational products with hand2mind, such as Alphabet Coffee Cups, which aid children in differentiating between capital and lowercase letters, and Number Blocks, a math learning toy set based on a British television show of the same name.
Toys run in Woldenberg’s family. Originating from a company formed by Woldenberg’s grandpa over a century ago, Learning Resources was established in 1984 by his mother.
Learning Resources sells in around 100 countries and employs roughly 500 people. Woldenberg said he spent about $10 million in duties in 2025, and the majority of its production is in China, which was subject to some of the most punishing tariffs.
Woldenberg’s journey from small-business CEO to a central figure in trade policies began when Learning Resources faced dramatically higher import duties under Trump’s tariff program aimed at China and other trading partners.
Woldenberg had to redirect staff to work on tasks such as re-engineering the company’s supply chain and scaling back plans for company expansion, including constructing 600,000 square feet of warehouse and office space in Illinois, Reuters reported.
Plans for product development, marketing, and sales all shifted at once. The company’s focus shifted from innovation to survival and reaction. It spent less. It absorbed less. “We shrank last year,” he told Reuters.
What’s Woldenberg’s role in tariff policies?
A 2025 U.S. Chamber of Commerce report characterized Trump’s tariffs as a threat to the existence of small firms like Woldenberg’s, which account for approximately 97% of U.S. imports and bring in roughly $868 billion worth of goods annually.
Woldenberg began criticizing the tariffs just days after Trump announced them in April of last year. Learning Resources requested an early review by the U.S. Supreme Court in June after winning its case in district court.
He stated that one of the main goals of his anti-tariff campaign was to highlight the real-world difficulties associated with the Trump administration’s demand for businesses to relocate their manufacturing back to the United States. Woldenberg argued that the levies threatened his firm’s viability and that of many similar manufacturers reliant on imported components.
He further explained that the country lacks expertise in this type of manufacturing. Woldenberg’s partner plant in China has been producing toys for many years, has a highly skilled workforce, and can satisfy the strict safety regulations of the toy business. He told Reuters that it might take months or years to replicate that level of expertise.
Despite the victory last week, Woldenberg has signalled that legal redress is only part of the solution. In recent media appearances, he has indicated that while the ruling was a positive step, challenges still exist in the larger trade policies.
He has argued that imported tariff costs work as “economic depressants” that can increase consumer prices, warranting broader reforms beyond the narrow legal victory.
