President Donald Trump in recent days threatened to slap tariffs on furniture, which would extend the president’s levies to an industry made up largely of low-cost imports.
The move would likely raise furniture prices as importers pass along a portion of the tax burden to consumers, analysts told ABC News, but some suppliers may ease the price pressure by swallowing costs in an effort to remain competitive in the robust U.S. market.
The details of the proposed policy remain unknown, analysts said, making it difficult to forecast the extent of the price hikes.
“If tariffs go into place, it almost certainly will increase prices for furniture – to furnish that new house or upgrade the couch the dog destroyed or whatever it might be,” Tyler Schipper, a professor of economics at the University of St. Thomas, told ABC News.
In a social media post on Friday, Trump said the White House had opened an investigation into imported furniture, saying the products would be “Tariffed at a Rate yet to be determined.” The investigation will be completed within 50 days, Trump said.
“This will bring the Furniture Business back to North Carolina, South Carolina, Michigan, and States all across the Union,” Trump added.
The U.S. imported $25.5 billion in furniture in 2024, up 7% from the previous year, according to trade outlet Furniture Today. Vietnam and China accounted for roughly 60% of the imports, the report found.
In recent months, Trump has placed country-specific tariffs on top furniture exporters. Products from Vietnam face a 20% tariff, for instance, while Chinese imports encounter a 30% levy.
Furniture prices have already begun to climb in response to the country-specific tariffs, Jason Miller, a professor of supply chain management at Michigan State University, told ABC News.
Furniture prices soared 1.4% over three months ending in June, when compared to the previous three-month period, the government’s personal consumption expenditure index shows.
“This is a big jump,” Miller said, noting the index had largely declined between the mid-1990s and the mid-2010s.
Furniture prices spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic, since stay-at-home orders triggered a surge of demand while delivery bottlenecks crimped supply. A supply-chain recovery helped reduce prices in recent years, until tariffs sent them rising again, Miller said.
“It’s difficult to see many positives from a consumer standpoint at the moment,” Miller added.
A round of furniture tariffs would exacerbate the price increases, since importers will likely pass along some of the cost to consumers, analysts said. Tariffs will also raise the cost of furniture parts, they added, hiking expenses for domestic manufacturers and likely causing higher prices even for America-made products.
“If you put a large tariff on imported goods, it has the effect of reducing competition in the U.S.,” Schipper said. “If domestic U.S. manufacturers have less competition, they may increase their prices as well.”
IKEA is a Swedish-founded multinational group that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture, kitchen and accessories.
Joerg Huettenhoels/Adobe Stock
In a social media post last week, Trump touted what he views as an absence of tariff-induced inflation.
“Tariffs have not caused Inflation, or any other problems for America, other than massive amounts of CASH pouring into our Treasury’s coffers. Also, it has been shown that, for the most part, Consumers aren’t even paying these Tariffs, it is mostly Companies and Governments, many of them Foreign, picking up the tabs,” Trump said.
So far, tariff-induced price increases have proven marginal. The overall inflation rate stands at 2.7%, below the 3% rate in January, before Trump took office.
To be sure, analysts said the precise impact of potential furniture tariffs remains unclear since many details of the policy have yet to be determined, including the tariff rate.
Some analysts also predicted furniture suppliers would swallow some of the tariff-related costs in an effort to preserve enticing prices in the U.S. consumer market, the largest destination for furniture products.
“Foreign producers might have to find ways to lower prices to keep price-competitive in U.S. markets,” Michael Sposi, a professor of economics at Southern Methodist University, told ABC News.
Still, Sposi said, shoppers will likely face higher furniture prices over the coming months.
“The question will be the magnitude of price increases,” Sposi added. “At this stage, there isn’t much clarity on what it will look like.”
