Trump says furniture tariffs are coming later this year

The Trump administration has launched an investigation into imported furniture, President Donald Trump said Friday, setting the stage for new tariffs on a wide range of products.

“Within the next 50 days, that Investigation will be completed, and Furniture coming from other Countries into the United States will be Tariffed at a Rate yet to be determined,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “This will bring the Furniture Business back to North Carolina, South Carolina, Michigan, and States all across the Union.”

Following Trump’s post, shares of top furniture and home goods companies, including Wayfair, RH and Williams-Sonoma, tumbled in after-hours trading.

Wayfair imports much of its furniture. RH, formerly Restoration Hardware and Williams-Sonoma have been working to diversify their supply chains.

New tariffs could drive up costs for many of these major furniture brands. But not for all of them.

Shares of La-Z-Boy, which has most of its manufacturing in the U.S., rose on the news of Trump’s tariff plans.

Trump has already put steep tariffs on cars, steel and aluminum and he has floated similar customs duties for imported copper, pharmaceuticals and semiconductors.

It was unclear Friday whether new, sectoral tariffs on furniture would be applied on top of country specific tariff rates.

The Trump administration has spent months holding bilateral negotiations with U.S. trade partners in an effort to reset the balance of global trade. Recent framework agreements with the European Union and China have helped to calm markets, but leave many longer-term issues unresolved.

Any new tariffs would come at a difficult moment for the U.S. furniture industry, which faces a range of challenges.

Companies like Wayfair have seen demand fall for more than a year on items like new couches and dining sets, a drop caused in part by a slower overall housing market as buyers wait for interest rates to come down.

With fewer new homes being bought, consumers have fewer reasons to buy new furniture.

Plus, with stubborn inflation, they have been more choosy on where they are spending their discretionary income. Restaurants, new clothes, trips and home decor have all taken a hit.

— CNBC’s Gabrielle Fonrouge contributed to this report.