Tariffs have already made mattresses, strollers and power tools more expensive [View all]
Source: CNN Business
Published 7:00 AM EDT, Tue May 13, 2025
New York CNN President Donald Trumps unpredictable trade policies and public threats against companies have made it nearly impossible to set prices.
The Trump administration temporarily reduced tariffs on China over the weekend, but import taxes have already made baby gear, power drills, mattresses and other everyday products more expensive for Americans. Companies have been raising prices to survive cost increases from both 10% universal tariffs on every product entering the United States and higher levies on Chinese goods, at 30% even after an agreement between Washington and Beijing.
The Federal Reserve said last week that tariffs have led to a 0.3% increase in prices this year. Some companies are increasing the prices of all of their products. Others are hiking targeted items in their catalogs. Many are just eliminating the products that will cause sticker shock rather than try to sell at prices either customers wont buy or competitors will undercut, companies and analysts say.
If you raise prices too much demand goes down and you lose market share, said Z. John Zhang, a professor of marketing at the University of Pennsylvania who researches pricing strategies. The fate of your company is in the hands of people making pricing decisions.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/13/business/prices-tariffs-trump-strollers-power-tools