Trump vows to enact ‘substantial’ tariffs on imported furniture
By Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN
(CNN) — President Donald Trump threatened Monday to impose “substantial Tariffs on any Country that does not make its furniture in the United States,” he wrote in a Truth Social post. “Details to follow!!!” he added.
This comes after he announced last week that a 50% tariff on kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities, as well as a 30% tariff on upholstered furniture, would go into effect later this week.
It’s unclear how Trump’s latest tariff threat would work; businesses, not countries, manufacture furniture. Typically, sectoral duties are charged uniformly regardless of the country of origin.
Trump’s post, however, appears to hint at a tariff scheme that could call for higher levies on countries that ship more furniture to the United States than others.
The White House did not immediately respond to CNN’s inquiry.
The president initially announced plans last month to impose higher furniture tariffs by mid-October.
Already, furniture prices in the United States have increased over the past few months as Trump hiked tariffs on countries including China and Vietnam, the top two sources of imported furniture. Both countries exported $12 billion worth of furniture and fixtures last year, according to US Commerce Department data.
Furniture and bedding prices, an overarching category the Consumer Price Index tracks, rose 0.9% in July and 0.3% in August. Compared to August 2024, prices are 4.7% higher, the largest jump in three years. That’s a sharp contrast to most of the past two and a half years, when prices were falling.
Trump, in his Monday morning post, said his impetus for levying higher furniture tariffs was to help North Carolina, which he claimed “has completely lost its furniture business to China, and other countries.”
North Carolinians could play a crucial role in determining which party controls the Senate, with one seat up for election next year in their state, considered a major battleground race.
In addition to furniture, Trump also threatened Monday to impose a 100% tariff on foreign-produced films. Last week, he said a 100% tariff on branded drugs, with some exceptions, and a 25% tariff on trucks would go into effect later this week.
All this is happening ahead of a major Supreme Court case kicking off in November that studies whether Trump had the legal authority to impose country-specific tariffs in claiming an economic emergency. If the court rules against the Trump administration, businesses could be due large refunds on tariff payments.
At the same time, Trump’s sectoral tariffs, which rely on a separate set of laws concerning national security, are not currently facing any legal challenges.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
