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Boston Globe
08-05-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Trump's tariffs hit baby product industry hard, threatening parents with price hikes, shortages
Advertisement But with new tariffs more than doubling the cost of Chinese imports, prices on baby necessities are rising fast. And manufacturers and retailers are suddenly slamming on the brakes, halting months' worth of shipments, a move that economists warn will lead to shortages of strollers, cribs and other necessities as early as this month. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'Baby products are not only critical, they're required by law in many cases, like car seats,' said Lisa Trofe, executive director of the JPMA, which is expecting overall markups of about 30 percent. Infant furniture sold in the U.S. now faces average tariffs of about 129 percent, according to an analysis by S&P Global Market Intelligence. Other highly taxed items include toys (113 percent) and infant clothing (41 percent), S&P found. Advertisement Inflation has already squeezed parents over the past five years, with groceries up 28 percent, day care up 23 percent, and baby food and formula up 10 percent. Delta Children, the country's largest crib and children's furniture brand, paused nearly all shipments from China early last month, as soon as the White House announced higher tariffs. Although the company makes some products in Wisconsin and Kansas, it relies heavily on near-daily shipments from Chinese factories that supply its cribs, bassinets, strollers and high chairs. Without those new products coming in, inventory is quickly running low. 'We're going to end up with bare shelves in another couple of months if things don't change,' said Joseph Shamie, the president of Delta Children. 'We are doing our best to hold price increases to a minimum, but I've got to start making some tough decisions soon: How much more can we possibly raise our prices? What do we do next?' The industry, Shamie said, has spent decades working with Chinese factories and testing facilities to ensure its products are safe. As of 2008, cribs, toys and other children's products sold in the U.S. must undergo testing at third-party safety labs, mostly based in Asia. Today, China has more than 300 such testing laboratories for children's products, nearly four times as many as the U.S. does, a federal database shows. 'Juvenile products are among the most highly regulated products in the United States,' Trofe said. 'There are so many safety, compliance and quality requirements, and to move somewhere else would take years and require significant capital investments that companies just can't make right now.' The electronics section of a Costco in Marina Del Rey, Calif., on April 4. Mark Abramson/NYT The turmoil has been particularly acute for an industry that was able to carve out significant relief from tariffs during President Donald Trump's first term by citing care and safety concerns. At the time, high chairs, car seats, play yards and toys were all exempt from 25 percent tariffs on China. (Although cribs, bassinets and parts for car seats were not.) Advertisement This time, the White House has made no such exceptions, despite lobbying from House Democrats, manufacturers and trade groups. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, during a congressional hearing Wednesday, said an exemption for car seats and other children's necessities is 'under consideration,' though he did not offer details on timing. In the meantime, manufacturers say they are struggling with mixed signals and heightened uncertainty. 'For the last three weeks, we've been like chickens with our heads cut off - just scrambling, trying to figure out what to do if these tariffs never come down,' said Casey Ames, founder of Harkla, a company in Boise, Idaho, that sells products for children with special needs. 'We'd planned for tariffs, but we didn't plan for a full-on trade war.' Ames raised the price of the company's flagship sensory swing this year, from $89 to $99, to offset early tariffs, but he paused orders altogether after duties jumped to 145 percent. He has considered moving manufacturing to the U.S. but said there is no way the numbers would work: A sensory swing that costs about $30 to manufacture in China would easily cost four times as much to make in the U.S. 'Nobody is going to pay $200 for a swing,' he said, 'even if it's made in America.' The increasing availability of less expensive children's products in the past few decades has leveled the playing field among parents, allowing families of all income levels to afford toys, electronics, high chairs and strollers, said Daniel Cook, a childhood studies professor at Rutgers University at Camden who studies consumer culture. But the specter of suddenly higher costs - on top of rising prices for groceries, child care and other essentials - means many parents may soon be priced out of certain categories of products altogether. Advertisement 'If these tariffs stay in place, there's a good chance there's going to be a stronger bifurcation of children's haves and have-nots, of families with and without,' Cook said. Trump last week appeared to shrug off concerns that parents might be hit with higher costs and shortages. 'Maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, you know? And maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally,' he told reporters at the White House. The Trump administration has said higher costs may be a necessary hurdle in reviving U.S. manufacturing and bringing back factory jobs, though it has not elaborated on how new tariff-related price increases may clash with its goal of boosting the national birth rate. More than 1 in 3 adult Americans under 50 without children say affordability concerns are a major reason they are unlikely to become parents, according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center. The White House did not respond to requests for comment. Newell Brands, the parent company of Baby Jogger and Graco, has raised prices for its strollers, car seats and Pack 'n Play play yards by about 20 percent so far this year to offset the first couple of rounds of China tariffs. Although it has moved production out of China for its other brands - which include Rubbermaid, Sharpie and Yankee Candle - executives said the situation has been trickier to navigate with children's items. Advertisement 'The one piece that is most challenging is baby gear,' CEO Chris Peterson said in an earnings call last week, adding that the company bulked up on inventory ahead of tariffs. 'At some point, we will begin to run out of inventory. … When that happens, because the whole industry sources from China, we would expect that we and the rest of the industry will take additional pricing to offset the tariff cost.' The company's stock has lost 49 percent of its value so far this year, putting it in line with other children's manufacturers that have posted similar drops in the financial markets. Dorel Juvenile - whose brands includes Maxi-Cosi, Cosco Kids, and Safety 1st - is down 59 percent this year, while clothing giant Children's Place has fallen 48 percent. Kids2, the parent company of Ingenuity, Baby Einstein and Bright Starts, owns its own factory near China's Jiujiang Port, and is increasingly paying for import duties itself, by shipping extra strollers, baby gates and bouncers to warehouses in California. Many of the company's largest customers, including Walmart, Target and Amazon, have canceled orders they would normally pick up in China because of new tariffs, according to Mark Mintman, Kids2's chief financial officer. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.) The Evenflo LiteMax NXT infant car is demonstrated during ShowStoppers on the sidelines of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, on Jan. 7. PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images 'A lot of folks have just parked their containers, waiting for cooler heads to prevail,' he said. 'We're begrudgingly keeping the goods flowing.' But, he added, the strategy comes with a cost: The company expects to raise prices by at least 20 percent. Advertisement Until this year, educational toy company Learning Resources was able to bring most of its products into the country duty-free, thanks to an exemption on toys. But now, with all Chinese imports subject to a 145 percent tax, CEO Rick Woldenberg says his $2.3 million annual tariff bill could balloon to $100 million. 'The rug has completely been pulled out from under us,' he said. The Chicago-area business has moved about 16 percent of its manufacturing from China to Vietnam and India in recent years, though it hasn't been enough to offset the pain. 'Even if I eliminate every other expense - rent, electricity, health insurance, postage - I still can't cover that $100 million,' Woldenberg said. The prospect of rising costs has left many parents scrambling. Anastasia Moore's baby shower isn't for another couple of weeks. But the 32-year-old, who is having her second child at the end of June, has already snapped up most of the big-ticket items on her registry, including a crib and a convertible car seat her newborn won't use for at least another year. Given the product shortages and shipping delays she faced during the coronavirus pandemic, when her first child was born, Moore says she's being especially cautious now. She's even stocking up on bottles and formula in case breastfeeding doesn't work out. 'Sure, you can buy used children's clothing, but you can't buy a used car seat or pacifier or bottle nipples,' said Moore, who does marketing for a tech company in Stafford, Virginia. 'There are so many little things we're having to panic-buy.'
Forbes
07-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Trump Tariffs: Exemptions On Baby Products ‘Under Consideration,' Bessent Claims
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested Wednesday the Trump administration could exempt tariffs for baby products—though President Donald Trump was noncommittal about the idea—as reports suggest essential items for children like strollers and car seats face price hikes and possible shortages as a result of Trump's sky-high tariffs on Chinese goods. President Donald Trump's tariffs are raising prices on essential baby products like strollers and ... More car seats. LightRocket via Getty Images Tariff exemptions on 'items that parents need for their babies' are 'under consideration,' Bessent testified to the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday, as he faced questioning from Rep. Ayanna Presley, D-Mass., about the tariffs' impacts on American families. Bessent did not specify which products could be exempted, or offer any further details about the Trump administration's deliberations on possible exemptions. Trump was then asked Wednesday about whether exemptions for baby products were possible, telling reporters, 'I don't know,' but adding he would 'think about it' and 'take a look at it.' The president suggested he wasn't thrilled about the idea, however, saying he wants to make his tariff policy 'nice and simple' and is 'not looking to have so many exemptions.' More than 70% of baby gear sold in the U.S. is manufactured in China, according to data from the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA), with baby registry company Babylist noting that includes 97% of strollers and 87% of car seats. Trump's tariffs have wreaked havoc on the industry as a result, according to multiple reports, with companies already raising prices on their products and warning of shortages, which The Washington Post reports could start as soon as this month. JPMA expects the price of baby products to broadly go up by roughly 30%, according to the Post. Those price hikes reflect the punishing tariffs the products face, as an April analysis by S&P Global found infant furniture faces tariffs on average of approximately 129%, while toys are tariffed at 113% and infant clothing imports are taxed at 41%. And prices are already starting to go up, according to Axios: Nuna raised the price of its strollers and car seats by $100 and $50, respectively, for instance, while the price of an UPPAbaby stroller is set to go up by hundreds of dollars—from $899 to $1,200—early this month. Big Number $20,384. That's approximately how much parents can expect to spend on baby-related expenses in the first year of their child's life, according to parenting resource BabyCenter. That study was published in February, prior to Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariff rollout, meaning it does not account for the additional price hikes from tariffs. The Trump administration's heavy tariffs impacting baby products run counter to its aims to boost the birth rate and encourage Americans to have more children. The White House has considered issuing $5,000 'baby bonuses' to American mothers after they give birth, multiple outlets reported in April, though no final plans have yet been announced. Tangent The discussion over baby gear comes as Trump has suggested he's comfortable with children having to go without other goods, like dolls, in order to preserve his tariff agenda. 'Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, you know?' the president said during a Cabinet meeting last week. 'And maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally.' Key Background Trump's tariffs have broadly sparked warnings from economists of higher costs for consumers and possible product shortages, as data suggests importers are canceling planned shipments from China. The president has long pushed tariffs as a cornerstone of his policy agenda despite criticism that imposing them could harm the economy, rolling out a suite of 'Liberation Day' tariffs in early April that levied fees on imports from nearly all countries. While Trump went on to pause many of those tariffs for 90 days—keeping a 10% baseline rate but freezing higher rates—the president has only escalated his stance on China. He raised tariffs by an additional 125%, lifting the total tariff rate to at least 145% on Chinese imports, sparking a trade war with Beijing as it raised tariffs on American imports to 125% in response. Trump has shown a willingness to shield some goods from the tariffs and backtrack on his plans, however. His initial order exempted products like pharmaceuticals, and his administration then carved out an exemption for smartphones and other electronic goods after the tariffs had taken effect. These U.S. Goods—From Oil To Cars—Could Face Price Hikes As Europe Reportedly Considers New Tariffs (Forbes) Steve Madden Pulls Profit Projections—Joining These Companies Warning Of Tariff Impacts (Forbes) Trump's tariffs hit baby industry hard, threatening parents with price hikes, shortages (The Washington Post) "Baby tax": Trump tariffs send baby gear prices soaring (Axios)
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Baby gate recalled for failing safety standards—how to find a safer option
When it comes to babyproofing your home, safety gates are a must-have. They keep little explorers away from stairs, doorways, and other potential hazards—but only if they work as intended. A recent recall is raising concerns about the safety of one popular baby gate, and it's a reminder that not all safety products are created equal. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has issued a recall for HabiLife Retractable Safety Gates due to a serious entrapment hazard that violates federal safety standards. The gates, which were sold exclusively on Amazon between September 2024 and January 2025, pose a risk because a child's torso can fit through the opening between the gate and the floor. This could lead to serious injury or even death due to entrapment. If you purchased this gate, stop using it immediately and contact HabiLife Direct for a full refund. To complete the recall process, consumers are instructed to cut the mesh material and send a photo of the destroyed gate to service@ Related: This TikTok mom explains why she hopes others can babyproof their homes before her toddler comes over While no injuries have been reported yet, the CPSC recalls products before incidents happen whenever possible. This is a preventative recall, meaning that acting quickly can keep children safe before an accident occurs. It's also a good reminder for parents to regularly check babyproofing products to ensure they remain in good condition and meet safety standards. Not all baby gates meet the highest safety standards. Whether you're purchasing a new one or checking the ones you already have, here are some key things to look for: Look for JPMA certification. The Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA) certification means a product has been independently tested for safety. Avoid large gaps. Gates with large spaces at the bottom can create entrapment hazards similar to the one in this recall. Opt for hardware-mounted gates for stairs. Pressure-mounted gates can shift and should not be used at the top of stairs. Ensure gates have a secure locking mechanism. Some gates can be pushed open by persistent toddlers if the latch isn't strong enough. Regularly inspect gates for wear and tear. Even the safest gate can become dangerous if it loosens or breaks over time. Recalls can be easy to miss—especially when they involve products sold online. Many parents don't realize that Amazon and other retailers don't always notify buyers of recalls, making it essential to stay informed. To make sure you never miss an important safety recall: Sign up for CPSC recall alerts at Follow trusted parenting sites (like Motherly!) for safety updates. Regularly check the safety of baby gear, even if you've had it for a while. Baby gates should offer peace of mind—not pose hidden dangers. If you have the HabiLife Retractable Safety Gate, take action now to remove it from your home. And as you continue to babyproof, remember that not all safety gates are created equal. Choosing high-quality, well-tested products is one of the best ways to keep your little one safe. Stay safe, stay informed, and let's keep advocating for safer products for all families. Related: How to Babyproof Your Car
