Congressional Democrats Call China Tariffs a 'Baby Tax'
A reduction in reciprocal tariffs on Chinese goods to 10% has not ended the harm to families that need to stock up for new babies, Congress's "Dads Caucus" argued at a press conference May 15.
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Behind a podium sign that said: "Stop Trump's Baby Tax," Caucus founder Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., said having children is expensive, "and this administration is just making it worse. Dumb tariffs aren't just bad policy, they're a baby tax."
"Congress has the power to end these tariffs, and it's time we use it," he said.
House Democrats tried to roll back emergencies underlying the reciprocal tariffs and fentanyl tariffs on Canada and Mexico, but House leadership blocked a vote. The Senate rolled back the emergency underlying 25% tariffs on Canada, but a vote to roll back the reciprocal tariffs emergency failed when two expected supporters were not present. House Democrats also tried to roll back the emergency underpinning reciprocal tariffs around the world, but did not get a vote.
Angela Hanks, chief of policy programs at The Century Foundation progressive think tank, said as a mother to a 7-month-old, she knows how expensive it is. She said Uppababy said its $199 stroller is going from $199 to $225, and Evenflo car seats are rising between 10% and 40%. (The least expensive Evenflo infant car seat is about $200.) She said that before the tariffs, it cost about $2,000 to get nursery furniture and baby gear, and 75% of those goods are made in China.
Posters flanking the speakers said that combined tariffs on Chinese car seats are 61.2%, and combined tariffs on Chinese strollers are 37.5%
Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., whose pregnant wife and toddler also attended the press conference, said his family is "lucky enough to be able to afford some of those things" but many families are not. He said when he and Gomez were growing up, their families wouldn't have been able to afford prices like those. He said he's hearing about families searching garage sales and thrift stores for car seats, but those may not be as safe as the newest models.
Gallego called out what he said was "the utter hypocrisy of this administration," wanting people to have more children, but raising the cost of necessities for raising them.
Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Mass., noted that Walmart announced they're hiking the price of bananas due to tariffs. "Before the tariffs, families' budgets were already tight," she said.
On the floor of the Senate, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., also pointed to Walmart's pricing announcement. "Walmart’s announcement is a glaring reminder that even after supposedly backtracking on some of his tariffs, significant damage will not go away. The chaos [President Donald Trump] has unleashed is eating away at retailers, restaurants, small businesses, and middle class families’ wallets."
Although the press conference focused on the lack of exemptions for baby products, Gallego said in response to a question that 25% tariffs on imported minivans are a problem, too.
"We need to take back the power on tariffs," he said. He noted that Gomez had been one of the Ways and Means Committee members who secured changes to the rewritten NAFTA that allowed an overwhelming bipartisan vote for the USMCA. That treaty was negotiated and signed during the first Trump administration.
"We wanted certainty for the supplier, for the consumer" with the revised NAFTA, Gallego said. "Now he wants to mess around more with this, and now we're all paying for it."