Forest Products Industry

US President Donald Trump announced he’s directing his administration to investigate imports of furniture into the United States that will lead to higher tariffs by October. Source: CNN “Within the next 50 days, that Investigation will be completed, and furniture coming from other countries into the United States will be tariffed at a rate yet to be determined,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “This will bring the furniture business back to North Carolina, South Carolina, Michigan, and States all across the Union,” he said. The investigation comes as the Trump administration is mulling higher tariff levels on imported goods such as copper, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals. Already, furniture prices have been increasing over the past few months as Trump hiked tariffs on countries including China and Vietnam, the top two sources of imported furniture. Both countries imported US$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 0.4% in June and 0.9% in July after prices had been largely deflationary for the past two and a half years. Other furniture, including office, recreation and patio, saw the biggest spikes since May. Prices were up 1.5% in May, 1.6% in June and 1.5% in July. Like most goods, these categories were seeing prices fall by that much on a monthly basis, if not more, following the unravelling of pandemic nesting trends. Furniture stocks, such as Wayfair, William-Sonoma and Restoration Hardware, all tanked in after-hours trading Friday evening following a big day of gains across the stock market after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell opened up the door to an interest rate cut.

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