Trumps imposes new tariffs on China : Furniture among them, and metal springs, etc.

New trade tariffs of 10% go into effect on Chinese-made furniture later this month and they will extend to 25% by end of the year according to both The WashingTon Post and Fortune news articles published today. This is almost certainly going to result in price increases, especially for companies such as Hooker Furniture where the bulk of their product is made in China. Metal springs are also in the 300 + items listed, and those are used in domestic made mattresses and even US-made furniture.

I'm putting this out not to be political, but to warn you that I see large price increases on the way, especially on imported furniture. My suggestion if you are considering a purchase in this category, do it soon. Even USA-made product uses many build components in this tariff category, so expect price increases in domestic items as well, though not on the order of direct imports.

Furniture companies are slow to respond and busy prepping for the October High Point Market, but I would wager these increases will all arrive near the end of this year. Just an FYI, you heard it here first. This tariff will hit the pocketbooks of consumers .

Shoot, I was worried about this! I was planning on buying the side table and ottoman in Jan/Feb. :(

I would grab all your budget will tolerate in the next 60 days. Everything on the water or in warehouses is already at existing prices, but the new stuff coming will be tariff-affected. You can bet the CEO's of all the furniture companies in the USA are huddled in meetings starting tomorrow deciding how to handle this. This industry generally runs on thin margins - so I don't foresee a single company absorbing the cost of the tariffs, they will be passed on to the dealer, who in turn will raise the retail price you pay.

As expected, here it comes..... this letter from Hooker (they also own Bradington Young and Sam Moore) and it arrived this evening. Because this looks to be a very fluid and fast-moving situation with pricing that is going to be confusing AND changing, please get re-quotes at time of order.

As you can see the quote you got a week ago may not be any good two weeks from now.

Attachment 11193

Interesting. I do believe the side table I want will be sourced from China. The ottoman will likely be an H&M tufted ottoman of some type, which I don't think contain any springs or components from China other than the leather. But they might elect to increase prices across the board rather than just on the pieces directly effected, so minimize the impact on each item. The 25% is scarier than the 10%, of coarse. Thanks for keeping us up to date.

And more....This one from Hancock and Moore is going into effect Monday Oct 1, so you have today and the weekend to order at existing prices. Sheesh, this is going to be a pricing nightmare for all of us, because any quotes will have to be re-done that were made previously. And as you can see, another round may come, too.

The good news? Those nice Italians and Germans leathers don't look quite as pricey now.

Attachment 11209

Leathers in Hancock and Moore that come from China and will be affected (there is also a list of fabrics however those I am not going to type out at this time)

Alberta
Angelo
Aspen
Caress
Cavalier
Coventry
Document
Dream
Finesse
Juno
Longview
Nirvana
Piazza
Portfolio
Revival
Ryder
Viking

Taylor King just sent this one a few minutes ago.

Attachment 11210

I have multiple suppliers all doing the tariff increases. This is going to make for confusion and the possibility of mistakes on pricing. Most likely I will slow the quote process down so I can double-check on things and minimize mistakes.

Over-the-phone pricing is done quickly and chance of an error is greater vs email or forum quote requests.

And one from Century Furniture as well.

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So far, this is a pricing NIGHTMARE, the likes of which I have never encountered in my 32 years in the furniture business. Every supplier has a different way of dealing with these tariffs and as such they are not uniform and require digging out the paperwork from each maker before sending in a purchase order for a customer. For that reason, when you ask for a quote on a price please be prepared for pricing errors not only from my store, but from virtually every dealer in the country. These are manual add-ons per specific item in many cases, and we don't have a nice (modern) digital interface to look up prices.

If you took the time to read through this tariff situation, you will see there is a second tier of them coming in January which is even much higher - so if this is not politically resolved before then, its going to be an even bigger mess.

I had considerable discussions with furniture executives at the High Point Market and these tariffs - if they continue - will have a MAJOR impact on furniture pricing and where things are being made. The one now in effect is small, 3% on furniture product from China, but this tariff goes to 25% on January 1 unless its politically resolved by then. Manufacturers are scrambling to move production from China to other countries and open factories in Vietnam, Nicaragua, and Mexico - and pull out of China. It's going to happen. And once they leave China they are not likely to return is the thought. This won't impact a domestic company like Hancock and Moore as much as it will an import company like Hooker Furniture - most of whose product is made in China. If that 25 % tariff goes into effect, you are going to see things like Chinese-tanned leathers dissapear from a manufacturer's line.

Some customers have existing pieces and think about adding another item in the same leather or style. My advice is do so now if the original piece was produced in China or of Chinese materials - you may not be able to get it after first of the year.

Posting again on this thread as I know from experience many folks are currently focused on finishing Christmas shopping and January is when people return to furniture purchases. By then - it may be too late and you might get a nasty pricing surprise!

I have been on the phone with many of the CEO's of the furniture manufactuers and it does not appear that the Trade War tariffs are subsiding. They are expecting the 25% tariff hike to be in effect on January 1st. It has been at 3% since early fall. Different companies will react in various ways but none of them are going to absorb it - so it's going to translate to higher prices or discontinued product.

Obviously pieces that are produced in China are going to take a big hit. Other companies it will be more subtle. For example, US steel mills have nearly doubled the price of steel since the tariff came into place. So companies like Hancock and Moore that buy USA steel for springs in their 8-way suspension systems will see higher component prices because the industry has hit then hard with increases. Fabrics: A lot of them come from China and will go up several grade steps or be dropped. Married Leather Covers are almost always done in China, even though the leather may be from an Italian tannery (such and Kip from H&M) they are kitted-up in China and subject to the tariffs.

So it's a mess. One thing if for sure, we will see a rash of new price lists coming January 1. I don't have the crystal ball to say how much or what's affected, but I know for certain there will be folks caught unaware by it and upset that the sofa they were considering buying for $ 2,500 in December is $ 3,200 in January.

I do not believe there is going to be a political resolution to these tariffs in the next two weeks and I don't think anyone else does, either. I do know that pricing will not change through Dec 31st so you are good to go until then.

The furniture industry closes for Winter Vacation from Dec 21st through January 1st so any requests for samples or custom quotes really needs to be done in the next 48 hours.

Looks like the 25% tariff due to arrive Jan 1 has been put off until March - none of the affected companies are taking pricing on it at this time. Apparently Trump and Xi Jinping had a sit-down at Mara Lago and tabled the increase until then. More as I hear further....