Donald Trump will hit all lumber entering the United States with a 10% tariff in a matter of weeks, with imported cabinets, vanities, and upholstered furniture also to be hit with a 25% in a move he said would bring manufacturing jobs back to America’s heartland.
Trump signed the proclamation today, arguing that timber, lumber, and furniture imports are eroding U.S. national security, ending a months-long National Security probe under Section 232 of the 1974 Trade Act. Wood Central understands that the new rates will take effect on October 14, adding that duties on upholstered wooden products and kitchen cabinets and vanities will increase to 30% and 50% on January 1, unless trading countries strike a deal with the United States.
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. But 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.
According to Trump, timber imports are weakening the U.S. economy, resulting in persistent threats to the closure of wood mills, disruptions to wood product supply chains, and a decline in the utilisation 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 defence and critical infrastructure,” according to Trump’s statement, adding that lumber is 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.”
Trump’s Tariffs Could Hit 90% of IKEA Products.
In April, Wood Central reported that just 10% of IKEA products sold in the United States are manufactured domestically, making the world’s largest furniture retailer particularly vulnerable to Trump’s tariffs. Wood Central understands that Inter IKEA, the company’s U.S. division, relies heavily on overseas sourcing—far more than its European and Chinese counterparts.
And whilst 70 per cent of IKEA’s European products are sourced from European forests, and 80 per cent of its Chinese inventory is manufactured locally, the U.S. division’s top five sourcing markets include Poland, Italy, Lithuania, Germany, and China. Germany is now subject to a 20 per cent tariff, while Chinese imports face a 34 per cent duty.
Industry experts warn that the structure of the tariffs could disproportionately affect high-volume, low-value goods used in furniture, cabinetry, and other structural applications. “Absorbing a 10 per cent tariff is one thing,” said a supply chain analyst familiar with the matter. “But factoring in a 20 to 40 per cent tariff without passing on increased prices to consumers is challenging.”
Trump’s strategy, aimed at boosting domestic timber production and manufacturing, presents complications for multinational firms like IKEA, which are committed to sourcing FSC-certified timber. IKEA is the world’s third-largest timber consumer, responsible for roughly 1 per cent of global lumber demand. Yet only 14.7 million hectares of U.S. forests are certified under the FSC scheme. The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), the U.S. equivalent under the PEFC system, covers approximately 33 million hectares.
The question now facing retailers is whether there is sufficient certified forest fibre—FSC, SFI, or PEFC—to meet demand should production shift to the United States. Henrik Elm, Inter IKEA’s CFO, acknowledged the challenge last year in an interview with Reuters. “We have worked a lot on making our supply chain more responsive to different changes, including different trade barriers,” Elm said. “So I think we are better equipped than we have been ever before, but we are not immune to changes.”
- To learn more about the impact of Trump’s economic policy on the global timber market, click here for Wood Central’s special feature. To learn more about Trump’s new tariffs on Chinese imports, including millions of timber furniture pieces, click here for Wood Central’s story.
