Consider This from NPR - Raising kids is costly; Tariffs will make it even more expensive

Episode Date: April 17, 2025

When it comes to the cost of raising a child from infancy to the age of 17 in the United States – it's hard to settle on a precise figure.There's one thing we do know – it's going to be expensive. By some estimates, raising a kid, who was born in 2015, could cost a middle class family close to $320,000 over 17 years. That money goes to childcare, healthcare, food, clothes, education, transportation, activities, toys, and a lot more. All of those things will be affected – one way or another – by the Trump administration's tariff policy.And the companies that sell products geared at those raising kids – they're going to feel the pinch as well. One CEO argues it could even mean certain products will become unavailable.Being a parent in the U.S. is already expensive. Slapping tariffs on the products kids use could make it more so. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

When it comes to the cost of raising a child, from infancy to the age of 17 in the United States, it's hard to settle on a precise figure. There's one thing we do know. It's going to be expensive. In 2017, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service put out a number. It estimated that a middle-income two-parent family with two children could expect to spend close to $14,000 per year to raise one child born in 2015. Add that up over the course of 17 years and you are north of $233,000. Again, those figures are from 2015. Adjust for inflation and raising a kid to adulthood could cost a middle-class family close to $320,000.

That money goes to child care, healthcare, food, clothes, education, transportation, activities, toys, and a lot more. And all of those things will be affected one way or another by the Trump administration's tariff policy. Meaning, if these tariffs stick around a while, the cost of raising a child in the U.S. just got even more expensive. And for the companies that sell products geared at raising those kids, they're going to fill the pinch as well. Our whole industry has stopped ordering products from China due to the 145% tariffs. That is Stephen Dunn, CEO of Munchkin Inc, a U.S.-based company selling juvenile and maternal products. Think soupy cups, bath toys, breast pumps. So consider this. Being a parent

in the U.S. is already expensive. Slapping tariffs on the products kids use could make it more so. From NPR, I'm Mary Louise Kelly. When Malcolm Gladwell presented NPR's Through Line podcast with a Peabody Award, he praised it for its historical and moral clarity. On Through Line, we take you back in time to the origins of what's in the news, like presidential power, aging, and evangelicalism. Time travel with us every week on the Through Line podcast from NPR. Imagine if you will, a show from NPR that's not like NPR,

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Listen now to Shortwave, the science podcast from NPR. It's Consider This from NPR. Stephen Dunn describes himself as a businessman and an advocate for families. Dunn's company has about 300 employees. It makes products you can find just about anywhere. And he says the tariffs are hurting both his business and families. In an open letter to President Trump and to Congress, Dunn writes that the new tariffs are forcing his company to halt orders, cut jobs, and possibly run out of its products. Briefly outline for me why tariffs pose such a threat to your company.

Well, when initial tariffs were implemented, the first there was 10 percent and then there was another 10 percent. Most of the companies within the juvenile industry tried to absorb them. Now that the tariffs have increased to 145% on China, yeah, businesses have just stopped ordering and consumers, parents will not find important juvenile products on the shelf soon. I'm just trying to get a picture in my head of what you're talking about. You're talking about products like strollers, products like baby gates, and you're saying you cannot keep making them if the current situation persists? Sixty percent of freight container or shippers have been canceled.

Our whole industry has stopped ordering products from China due to the 145 percent tariffs. These are tariffs that just can't be passed on to parents. Parents' birth rates are at the lowest levels in the last 40 years and making it more difficult and more expensive to be parents is going to even exasperate that issue now. Yeah, stay with that point for a second because in this open letter, you write, and I'm quoting, if action is not taken soon, the damage will be irreversible, not only for our company, our employees, but countless businesses, workers, and families across America.

What is the damage you see being done to American families? The products they rely on, Munchkin operates in about 12 different categories. Things from bottle brushes to bottles to a new product we launched that helps moms meet their breastfeeding goals. These products will not be on the shelves because our industry and millions of small businesses have simply stopped ordering. We will run out of inventory in the next 60 days. 60 days, six zero. Six zero and if we don't place orders now, an order we place now will take 45 days to get here.

So we're at a critical path where Munchkin owns thousands of tools in China. I can't even move my tools to the US. I can't get an export license to move used tools. So moving and trying to relocate businesses like the juvenile and industry or the maternal health industry into the US takes years and years. It would take government supported programs to create manufacturing zones. Just to manufacture our sippy cups would take a hundred molding machines in the US, if we could find them. If president Trump were on the line with us now, he might be arguing, Hey, tariffs are going to bring manufacturing back to the United

States. This is good for America. This is good for American workers. What do you say to that? Well, I would say I wholeheartedly support the intent of on-shoring strategic industries like semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, and aerospace. But with respect to the juvenile industry and products that parents need every day, our industry is not made up of apples.

We don't have $100 billion sitting in the bank. We have no ability and there is not this manufacturing base that is suddenly going to appear in the US that can mold over 100, thousands and thousands of low margin products. 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 the American public. You founded Munchkin in 1991? 33, 34 years ago, yes. For someone listening to us skeptically, who might wonder, hey, is this guy really worried about American families? Is he really worried about his workers? Or is he worried about his company's bottom line?

What would you say? Well, I would say for 34 years we've made really safe and innovative products. Our goal has always been to support parents. Am I worried about our 300 loyal and credible employees? Absolutely. But I am speaking on behalf of all the other small and medium-sized businesses in the same country. We've done everything right, we've innovated, we've brought in wonderful, safe products, and it's impossible to bring this onshore in the time frame that the, and without the

government support by setting up infrastructure. Are you in conversation with other small medium-sized business owners about a path forward? We're part of the Juvenile Products Manufacturing Association. I've talked with their general counsel. They're also petitioning the administration to look at an exemption or a carve out for the juvenile industry due to the importance of supporting parents. What I've, in talking with other CEO and leaders, everyone that I've talked to has stopped 100% their orders coming in from China. At 145%, products will just be too expensive and the consumers will not be able to pay for them. Have you heard back from anyone in government? I have not. We FedExed, we've emailed and I know the administration

is working on very strategic negotiations with other countries and but the small business leaders, small businesses throughout the US, you know, we're on a ticking time bomb. Everyone has stopped ordering and we're going to run out of inventory. There will be layoffs within our industry and there'll be companies that will go out of business. That was Stephen Dunn, founder and CEO of Munchkin. This episode was produced by Brianna Scott, with audio engineering by Tiffany Vera Castro, Ted MiBane, and Simon Laszlo Jansen. It was edited by Courtney Doherting and Eric McDaniel.

Our executive producer is Sammy Yenigan. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Mary Louise Kelly. At Planet Money, we'll take you from a race to make rum in the Caribbean. Our rum, from a quality standpoint, is the best in the world. To the labs dreaming up the most advanced microchips. It's very rare for people to go inside. To the back rooms of New York's Diamond District.

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