The Trump administration is considering exempting car seats, baby strollers, cribs and other essential items for transporting children from tariffs on China up to 145 percent, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
Bessent said on Wednesday under questioning from Democratic Representative Ayanna Pressley at a House of Representatives Financial Services Committee hearing, that those exemptions were under consideration. Pressley, of Massachusetts, noted that more than 3.5 million babies are born annually and almost all strollers are made in China. "Now that cost is going up," she said.
In 2018, the Trump administration exempted some products produced in China from 25 percent tariffs including bicycle helmets and child-safety furniture such as car seats and playpens. However, car seat component parts, cribs, bassinets, diaper bags and wooden safety gates were not exempted.
President Trump has promised to impose reciprocal tariffs on every country that charges duties on US imports, ratcheting up fears of a widening global trade war.
Chris Peterson, the CEO of Newell Brands, the maker of Graco strollers, car seats and other children's goods, said last week on an earnings call that approximately 97 percent of baby strollers and 87 percent of baby car seats in the US are sourced from China. The company has hiked prices of imported baby gear products by about 20 percent because of tariffs.
Peterson said the company has not priced in the latest 125 percent tariff hike and has temporarily halted shipments from China as it sells a few months of inventory.
"At some point, we will begin to run out of inventory.
Retailers will begin to run out of inventory and we will turn back on reordering from China," he said. "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."
