The White House recently announced that President Trump signed a proclamation that invokes Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which it said will delay planned tariff increases for upholstered furniture, kitchen cabinets, and vanities for a year.
“The United States continues to engage in productive negotiations with trade partners to address trade reciprocity and national security concerns with respect to imports of wood products,” stated a White House fact sheet. “The United States will therefore delay the increase in tariff prices for upholstered furniture, kitchen cabinets, and vanities that was set to take place on January 1, 2026, under the September 29 proclamation for an additional year. The current 25% tariff on upholstered furniture, kitchen cabinets, and vanities, as imposed under the September 2025 Proclamation will remain in effect.”
The White House added that President Trump recognizes that an overreliance on foreign timber, lumber, and their derivative products could jeopardize U.S. defense capabilities, construction, the construction industry, and economic strength. What’s more, it also explained that the nation’s reliance on imported lumber is exacerbated by foreign government subsidies and predatory trade practices, which it said undermines that competitiveness of the U.S. wood products industry.
“Given the ongoing productive negotiations regarding the imports of wood products, the President is delaying the tariff increase to allow for further negotiations to occur with other countries,” it said.
As previously reported, President Trump, in various social media posts in late September, announced new tariffs on various items, including heavy trucks, kitchen cabinets, and pharmaceuticals, to go into effect on October 1.
Those tariffs included:
Paul Bingham, Director, Transportation Consulting, at S&P Global Market Intelligence, told LM in late September that, in regards to the select categories of furniture imports tariffs, that they seem more targeted to protect U.S. manufacturers from import price competition, although the objective stated is to promote onshoring of manufacturing of those furniture categories.
“It will be expected that some importers will adjust and pay the new tariffs, negotiating with foreign suppliers on the prices plus considering how much to also either lower margins on their U.S. import sales or pass the costs on to the U.S. customers with higher prices,” he said. “For these products and at these tariff rates, the U.S. government tariff revenues are likely to increase instead of pricing out U.S. imports of these commodities to be replaced by U.S.-made products.”
