It’s a new year—and with it comes the first new twist in the tariff saga.
On January 1, duties on upholstered furniture, cabinets and bathroom vanities were all scheduled to increase. It didn’t happen. Instead, the White House issued a proclamation on Thursday morning announcing that the rate hike would be paused for a full year.
“The United States continues to engage in productive negotiations with trade partners to address trade reciprocity and national security concerns with respect to imports of wood products,” read the statement. “Given the ongoing productive negotiations regarding the imports of wood products, the President is delaying the tariff increase to allow for further negotiations to occur with other countries.” In the meantime, the current rates—25 percent on upholstery, cabinets and vanities from most countries—will remain in place.
These category-specific tariffs date back to September 29, when the President invoked Section 232 of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act to levy new duties. According to a White House proclamation issued at the time, the tariffs were the result of an investigation conducted by the secretary of commerce that “found that the present quantities and circumstances of the imports of wood products threatened to impair national security.” Until today’s reversal, those tariffs were scheduled to jump to 30 percent on upholstery and 50 percent on cabinets and vanities in 2026.
The news will likely be met with mixed reactions in different corners of the industry. Most domestic upholstery producers have never truly warmed to the President’s trade policy, and will likely greet the delay of a 5 percent tariff hike with a shrug.
On the other hand, industry groups that represent kitchen cabinetry manufacturers had lobbied hard for punitive tariffs. At the time of the September announcement, some argued that even a 50 percent upcharge was not sufficient to hold back the wave of cheap imported cabinetry in the American marketplace; a delay in that rate hike may arouse some anger.
As they were levied with a different legal justification than the president’s country-specific tariffs, these trade duties are not currently under review by the Supreme Court. The court, however, is likely to announce its ruling on the “Liberation Day” tariffs in a matter of weeks—whatever it decides will have significant consequences for global trade, and the design industry.
