President Trump on Monday night announced tariffs of 10% on softwood timber and lumber alongside a 25% tariff on “certain upholstered wooden products” due to take effect on October 14, according to the White House.
This was the latest set of tariffs to be announced impacting furniture industries after Trump posted to Truth Social about a flurry of tariffs on kitchen cabinets, vanities and other upholstered products on September 26 to take effect on October 1. A full list of impacted goods is yet to be released.
Earlier Monday Trump said he would impose 100% tariffs on foreign films and “substantial” duties on furniture imports, part of a revived tariff blitz in recent days.
“Our movie making business has been stolen from the United States of America,” he posted on Truth Social. He added that the furniture tariffs were part of an effort to revitalize the furniture-making business in North Carolina, which he said has been “completely lost” to China and other countries.
Trump had previewed the furniture tariffs last week as part of a plan to expand his trade agenda, as he targeted pharmaceuticals, heavy trucks, and kitchen cabinetry, among other items.
Those new tariffs range from 30% to 100%. That includes a 100% duty on patented drugs, with exemptions if the producer is building a manufacturing plant in the US or if the country has a trade agreement that covers drugs.
Trump had in May floated tariffs on the movie industry, though experts said at the time that it was unclear how those levies would work in practice.
Elsewhere, the president has in recent days floated using revenue the US has accrued to offer bailouts to farmers struggling with the early effects of the duties.
Trump said farmers are, “for a little while, going to be hurt until the tariffs kick into their benefit.”
It’s unclear what mechanism the administration would use to provide relief to farmers, and it could run into issues with a looming Supreme Court review of the tariffs. An unfavorable ruling to the administration, which would follow lower court decisions, could force the administration to refund billions of dollars of that revenue.
Elsewhere, the US and China are reportedly in negotiations for a “huge” Boeing (BA) aircraft deal that could end up as a “centerpiece” of a broader trade agreement.
The US and China have made progress toward various contours of a broader deal following a call between Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping last week. Trump said after that call that the countries had reached an agreement to spin off the TikTok app in the US.