Trump tariffs

Bad news for parents: This is how Trump’s tariffs can affect baby products

The CEO of a major baby products company has warned of the “devastating” consequences of President Trump’s tariffs on imports from China.

Nathan Howard

William Allen

British journalist and translator who joined Diario AS in 2013. Focuses on soccer – chiefly the Premier League, LaLiga, the Champions League, the Liga MX and MLS. On occasion, also covers American sports, general news and entertainment. Fascinated by the language of sport – particularly the under-appreciated art of translating cliché-speak.

Update: Apr 19th, 2025 12:46 EDT

The head of a major baby lifestyle brand has warned that President Trump’s tariffs leave U.S. parents at risk of being unable to buy the products they need.

Steve Dunn, the CEO of the California-based baby products company Munchkin, told NPR this week that the firm has had to freeze all imports from China, due to steep tariffs on goods arriving in the U.S. from the Asian nation.

Dunn added that other companies in the baby products sector have had to do likewise, amid an escalating trade war between the U.S. and Chinese administrations.

Earlier this month, Trump announced a 145% tariff on imports from China, which has retaliated with levies of up to 125% on American products.

“We will run out of inventory”

“Our whole industry has stopped ordering products from China due to the 145% tariffs,” Dunn told NPR’s ‘All Things Considered’ host Mary Louise Kelly. “These are tariffs that just can’t be passed on to two parents.”

Dunn added: “Consumers - parents - will not find important juvenile products on the shelves […]. The products they rely on - Munchkin operates in about 12 different categories of things from bottle brushes to bottles to a new product we launched that helps moms meet their breastfeeding goals.”

He added: “We will run out of inventory in the next 60 days, 90 days.”

“Devastating real-life consequences”

Dunn’s interview with NPR comes after he sent an open letter to President Trump and Congress, complaining that the U.S. administration’s tariffs on Chinese imports “are having devastating real-life consequences”.

“These new tariffs are forcing us to halt orders, cut jobs and may soon prevent us from delivering essential baby products to parents nationwide,” he wrote.

U.S. lacks “manufacturing base” for shift from China

Dunn also told NPR that it is impractical for Munchkin to respond to the implementation of tariffs - as is the aim of Trump’s policy - by opting for domestic production over Chinese manufacturing.

“We have no ability and there is not this manufacturing base that is suddenly going to appear in the U.S. that can mold thousands and thousands of low-margin products,” he said.

“We don’t have the automation. We don’t have the skilled labor. So our industry is going to have layoffs. Our company has had a hiring freeze. We’re not innovating.

“We can’t find countries that don’t have tariffs right now that make these products affordable for America, for the American public.”

What has Trump said this week about China tariffs?

Early this week, Trump said that some Chinese imports may even face levies rising as high as 245%, “as a result of [China’s] retaliatory actions”.

On Friday, however, the president indicated his openness to calling a halt to the recent tit-for-tat tariff rises.

“I don’t want them to go higher because at a certain point you make it where people don’t buy,” he told reporters at the White House, per the Reuters news agency.

“So I may not want to go higher or I may not want to even go up to that level. I may want to go to less because, you know, you want people to buy and, at a certain point, people aren’t gonna buy.”