Trump Sets 10% Tariff on Lumber Imports, 25% on Cabinets and
Furniture
·
Trump
order says cabinet tariffs to double to 50% on January 1
·
Start
of timber, furniture tariffs delayed two weeks until October 14
·
Trump
says timber imports threaten US production of defense materiel
U.S.
Tariffs on Lumber & Furniture (29 Sept 2025)
New
Duties Announced
·
10% tariffs on imported timber &
lumber.
·
25% tariffs on kitchen cabinets, bathroom
vanities, upholstered furniture.
·
Effective Oct 14, 2025 (12:01 a.m. EDT).
·
Higher duties from Jan 1, 2026:
o
30% on upholstered wood products.
o
50% on kitchen cabinets &
vanities (for countries without U.S. trade deals).
Justification
·
Invoked Section 232 of the Trade Act of 1974
(national security grounds).
·
Argued imports undermine U.S. wood industry, risk
mill closures, weaken defense supply chains.
·
Claimed wood is essential for housing/storage,
transport of munitions, missile-defense systems, nuclear re-entry vehicles.
Countries
Impacted
·
Canada: Major softwood supplier;
already faces ~35% combined U.S. anti-dumping & subsidy tariffs. Canada
pledges C$1.2 bn ($870m) aid to its lumber producers.
·
Mexico & Vietnam: Growing
U.S. furniture suppliers after Trump’s earlier tariffs on China (25% in 2018,
now ~55%). Could see nearly doubled rates on cabinets & vanities.
·
China: Earlier heavy tariffs remain in
force.
Partial
Relief for Allies
·
Tariffs capped at:
o
10% for UK,
o
15% for EU & Japan.
·
These align with existing framework trade deals.
·
Vietnam deal (20% rate agreed in July) not
mentioned in proclamation.
Domestic
& Business Reactions
·
Tariffs framed as protection for U.S. wood industry
& national security.
·
U.S. Chamber of Commerce strongly
opposed:
o
Argued imports pose no security risk.
o
Warned tariffs will raise costs for construction,
paper industry, consumers.
Broader
Context
·
Part of Trump’s wider second-term tariff push,
including upcoming duties on patented pharmaceuticals & heavy trucks.
·
Reliance on Section 232 increasing, while
Supreme Court reviews legality of Trump’s broader “reciprocal tariffs” (lower
courts struck down).
Takeaway: Trump
has escalated his protectionist trade stance, targeting Canada, Mexico, and
Vietnam in particular, while softening impact on allies with framework trade
deals. The move risks higher costs for U.S. businesses and consumers and faces
resistance from domestic industry groups.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday
(29.09.2025) he was slapping 10% tariffs on imported timber and lumber and 25% duties
on kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities and upholstered furniture, continuing his
tariff assault on global trading partners.
The action is the first in three sectors
that Trump said last week would get steep new duties as early as October 1, including
patented pharmaceutical imports, and heavy truck imports. Monday's proclamation
sets the start of the lumber and furniture duties two weeks later, at 12:01 a.m.
EDT (0401 GMT) on October 14.
Trump signed a presidential proclamation
laying out his argument that timber, lumber and furniture imports are eroding U.S.
national security to justify the new duties under Section 232 of the Trade Act of
1974.
Trump's increasing use of Section 232 comes
as he awaits a Supreme Court ruling on the legality of his broader "reciprocal"
tariffs on global trading partners, which two lower courts have struck down.
The proclamation said the tariff rates would
start on October 14, but added that duties would increase on January 1 to 30% for
upholstered wooden products and 50% for kitchen cabinets and vanities imported from
countries that failed to reach an agreement with the United States.
Trump's proclamation said wood product imports
were weakening the U.S. economy, resulting in the persistent threat of closures
of wood mills and disruptions of wood product supply chains and diminishing utilization
of the U.S. domestic wood industry.
"Because of the state of the United
States wood industry, the United States may be unable to meet demands for wood products
that are crucial to the national defense and critical infrastructure," the
statement said.
The order added that wood products were used
for "building infrastructure for operational testing, housing and storage for
personnel and materiel, transporting munitions, as an ingredient in munitions, and
as a component in missile-defense systems and thermal-protection systems for nuclear-reentry
vehicles."
PAIN
FOR CANADA, VIETNAM, MEXICO
Trump's use of tariffs has been a feature
of his second term, throwing new obstacles at businesses already struggling with
disrupted supply chains, soaring costs and consumer uncertainty. His administration
has highlighted the surge in duties paid into government coffers.
The action heaps more tariffs on Canada,
the biggest softwood lumber supplier to the U.S., where producers already face combined
U.S. anti-dumping and anti-subsidy tariffs of about 35% due to a long-festering
dispute over timber harvested from Canadian public lands.
Canada, which hopes to negotiate U.S. tariff
reductions through a broader revamp of the 2020 U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement on
trade, has said it would provide up to C$1.2 billion ($870 million) in aid to
its softwood lumber producers to cope with the prior duties.
Mexico and Vietnam are growing suppliers
of wooden furniture to the U.S. after Trump hit Chinese furniture products with
tariffs of up to 25% during his first term starting in 2018 - duties which have
since been raised to about 55% and now could nearly double for cabinets and vanities.
Trump's proclamation offered some countries
that have struck tariff-reducing trade deals with the U.S. some relief from the
higher wood products duties.
It said that U.S. tariffs on wood products
from Britain would be capped at 10% and those from the European Union and Japan
would be capped at 15% - rates in line with the base tariff rate in those framework
agreements.
But Trump's statement made no mention of
his trade deal with Vietnam for a 20% tariff rate in July, an agreement that still
has not been formally documented.
In April, after the Commerce Department opened
the national security probe into U.S. lumber imports, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
announced its opposition to any restrictions on imports of timber, lumber and their
derivative products, including wood pulp, paper and cardboard.
"Imports of these goods do not represent
a national security risk," the Chamber wrote. "Imposing tariffs on these
goods would raise costs for U.S. businesses and home construction, undermine the
export success enjoyed by the U.S. paper industry, and reduce incomes in many U.S.
communities."