Tariffs are making strollers and car seats more expensive. Parents are worried

When soon-to-be moms and dads go to Modern Natural Baby, a baby and children’s gear and toy store outside of Detroit, they are typically looking for advice — the right brand of stroller, whether to buy a rocker or a glider for the nursery, or for help installing a car seat.

When soon-to-be moms and dads go to Modern Natural Baby, a baby and children’s gear and toy store outside of Detroit, they are typically looking for advice — the right brand of stroller, whether to buy a rocker or a glider for the nursery, or for help installing a car seat. But recently, expectant parents arrive with a much different anxiety. They want to know how much President Donald Trump’s tariffs will raise stroller prices or if supply chain chaos will cause car seats to go out of stock. “This has become the top concern among many of our customers,” store owners John and Emily Murray told CNN. “They are asking questions like, ‘How much will that stroller increase in price? When will the price go up? Will this stroller be out of stock if I wait to add it to my registry?’” Nearly everything expectant and new parents need is exposed to Trump’s tariffs. Trump has slapped 145% tariffs on imports from China and a 10% minimum tax on all other countries. Some 90% of children’s and baby gear products are manufactured exclusively in China and can’t be produced in the United States or other countries anytime soon, say baby supply retailers and trade policy experts. Tariffs have already raised prices of the leading brands of strollers, car seats and other kids’ products by hundreds of dollars, sending retailers and manufacturers scrambling to secure inventory from vendors and driving jittery parents into buying items for newborns right away. “Due to this uncertainty, many are choosing to purchase these products themselves instead of putting them on their registries,” the Murrays said.