Trump sets 10% tariff on lumber imports, 25% on cabinets and furniture

An employee stacks boxes in the self-serve warehouse at the new IKEA Halifax store in Dartmouth, N.S. on Monday, September 25, 2017. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese)

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he was slapping 10 per cent tariffs on imported timber and lumber and 25 per cent duties on imported kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities and upholstered furniture, with the rate on the latter categories to jump next year.

Trump signed a presidential proclamation laying out his argument that timber, lumber and furniture imports are eroding U.S. national security to justify the new duties under Section 232 of the Trade Act of 1974.

The proclamation said the tariff rates would start on Oct. 14, but added that duties will increase on Jan. 1, 2026 to 30 per cent for upholstered wooden products and to 50 per cent for kitchen cabinets and vanities imported from countries that fail to reach an agreement with the United States.

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The action is the first in three sectors that Trump said last week would get steep new duties as early as Oct. 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. ET on Oct. 14.

Trump’s proclamation said wood product imports are weakening the U.S. economy, resulting in the persistent threats of closures of wood mills and disruptions of wood product supply chains and diminishing utilization 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 defense and critical infrastructure,” the statement said.

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The order added that wood products are 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.”

David Shepardson, David Lawder and Ismail Shakil, Reuters