By Jennifer A. Dlouhy and Thomas Seal
(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump ordered 10% tariffs on imports of softwood timber and lumber, as well as 25% levies on kitchen cabinets, vanities and upholstered wood products, marking his latest bid to use import taxes to shore up domestic manufacturing.
The tariffs are set to apply from Oct. 14, with some increases targeted to take effect Jan. 1, according to a proclamation signed Monday. They follow a Commerce Department investigation into imports of lumber, timber and derivative projects that was launched in March.
Trump said the planned actions will “strengthen supply chains, bolster industrial resilience, create high-quality jobs and increase domestic capacity utilization for wood products.”
Yet home builders have warned they also could deter investments in new houses and renovations. That could blunt the effectiveness of Trump’s high-profile campaign to boost homebuying by encouraging the Fed to lower interest rates.
Canada stands to be hit hard by the order, as it’s by far the U.S.’s largest wood supplier and it’s already subject to 35.2% duties meant to counter alleged subsidies and unfair pricing. And while Trump has claimed the U.S. doesn’t need Canadian lumber, Canadian supplies make up about a fifth of the U.S. market.
The levies are being imposed under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, which empowers the president to charge tariffs on goods in the name of national security. They are distinct from the so-called reciprocal, or country-specific, tariffs Trump has imposed to raise revenue and reverse trade imbalances.
Trump’s expanding pool of sectoral tariffs covers a wide array of consumer goods. The U.S. has already slapped tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, and a slew of other Section 232 investigations is still being conducted into foreign-made solar panels, commercial aircraft, semiconductors and critical minerals. Trump earlier announced plans for a 100% tariff on brand-name pharmaceuticals, though with a carveout for companies building manufacturing capability in the U.S.
The sectoral levies also could be more legally durable, a key factor as the Supreme Court considers a challenge to the reciprocal tariffs — and as administration officials work to build a robust alternative regime in case those are struck down.
Lower rates for dealmakers
Major economies that have cut separate trade deals with Trump will have lower rates, according to Trump’s directive. For instance, tariffs on wood products from the UK won’t exceed 10%, and for the European Union and Japan, they’ll effectively be capped at 15%.
Some rates would increase Jan. 1, under Trump’s order, with certain upholstered wood products subject to a higher 30% levy and kitchen cabinets and vanities then being hit with a 50% import tax. That mirrors the rates Trump telegraphed in a social media post on Thursday, though the president had originally indicated those levies would take effect as soon as Wednesday.
U.S. homebuilders have opposed further tariffs and warned of higher prices, with some stakeholders insisting the levies could prompt sawmills in Canada to shutter too. One of Canada’s largest lumber producers announced in June it would temporarily lay off more than 1,000 workers — half its workforce — in the face of rising US duties and weakening demand. Other major Canadian lumber companies include West Fraser Timber Co Ltd, Canfor Corp and Interfor Corp.
“Our housing crisis is a bigger threat to national security than imported lumber or timber,” the National Association of Home Builders told the government earlier this year. With most lumber and timber imported from longtime allies such as Canada, Germany, Sweden and Brazil — and lumber itself a renewable resource that doesn’t play a major role in modern warfare — “the threat to national security comes from our nation’s housing crisis, not imported lumber.”
Even so, Trump was under pressure from some congressional Republicans to use tariffs on furniture, cabinets and other wood products to boost their home-state industries, with some encouraging levies as high as 100%. And Trump has signaled his sympathy for furniture makers in North Carolina — once part of an acclaimed southern US hub for the domestic industry — where manufacturers say they are increasingly competing against subsidized, foreign rivals.
“The furniture industry has been wiped out by unfair foreign trade practices,” Edwin Underwood, president of Marsh Furniture, said in a news release. “We must not allow history to repeat itself with domestic cabinet manufacturing.”
Cost concerns
While new levies on cabinets and furniture could boost the competitiveness of domestic manufacturers, retailers have warned tariffs would come at a cost to their businesses.
Furniture retailers that could be affected by the decision include Wayfair Inc., Arhaus Inc., Williams-Sonoma Inc. and RH, which operates the chain formerly known as Restoration Hardware. Meanwhile, some with heavier domestic supply chains could benefit from the decision, including Ethan Allen and La-Z-Boy Inc.
The home furnishings sector has already been in a recession for years, and tariffs targeting timber and wood “would put it on its knees,” Dovetail Furniture and Designs, a furniture retailer based in California, warned the Commerce Department earlier this year.
Furniture for America, a coalition of companies spearheaded by the American Home Furnishings Alliance, said new duties on wood products would shrink the U.S. workforce, since American furniture companies are reliant on a complex global supply chain that’s evolved over a quarter century — and not easily replaced domestically.
“Tariffs cannot unravel and reverse the global trends that shaped the home furnishings industry over those two and a half decades,” the group said in comments filed with the Commerce Department. “Tariffs cannot reopen factories that no longer exist, bring back thousands of workers who retired or moved on to other industries, nor reverse the interests and inclinations of today’s younger workers, who are attracted to higher-paying trades and the burgeoning tech industry.”
–With assistance from Josh Wingrove, Brian Platt, Romy Varghese and Yasufumi Saito.
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Visited 94 times, 94 visit(s) today
bloomberg Dashboard Donald Trump economic news Editor’s pick homebuilders lumber tariffs
Last modified: September 30, 2025
