Section 232 Tariffs Take Effect Oct. 14 on Lumber and Furniture
Section 232 tariffs on timber, lumber and their derivatives will take effect Oct. 14, under a proclamation issued by President Donald Trump. Tariffs will be set at 10% for timber and lumber, 25% for upholstered furniture and 25% on wooden cabinets and vanities.
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On Jan. 1, the tariffs on upholstered furniture will increase to 30%, and on wooden cabinets and vanities to 50%, “except for countries with which the United States reaches an agreement that addresses the threatened impairment of the national security posed by imports of wood products.”
The tariffs on the EU and Japan will be capped at 15%, including the most-favored-nation rate, while goods from the U.K. will be subject to a rate that "shall not exceed" 10% on top of MFN.
Tariff subheadings subject to the new tariffs are outlined in an annex to the proclamation.
The tariffs on timber and lumber will cover Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheadings 4403.11.00; 4403.21.01; 4403.22.01; 4403.23.01; 4403.24.01; 4403.25.01; 4403.26.01; 4403.99.01; 4406.11.00; 4406.91.00; 4407.11.00; 4407.12.00; 4407.13.00; 4407.14.00; and 4407.19.00. New subheading 9903.76.01 will apply the 10% tariff to those subheadings.
Upholstered wooden furniture subject to the 25% rate will be filed under new subheading 9903.76.02, which will apply to subheadings 9401.61.4011; 9401.61.4031; 9401.61.6011; and 9401.61.6031.
Wooden cabinets and vanities subject to the 25% tariff will be filed under new subheading 9903.76.03, covering subheadings 9403.40.9060; 9403.60.8093; and 9403.91.0080.
However, as some goods classified under those subheadings aren't wooden cabinets and vanities, new duty-free subheading 9903.76.04 will apply to goods of those subheadings that are not "completed wooden kitchen cabinets or vanities or parts of wooden kitchen cabinets or vanities." MFN and other duties still will apply.
Individual tariff subheadings for the U.K., the EU and Japan will apply only to upholstered furniture and wooden cabinets and vanities, as none of the timber and lumber tariffs rise high enough to breach caps set in tariff deals with those countries.
New subheading 9903.76.20 will apply a 10% additional tariff on upholstered furniture and wooden cabinets and vanities from the U.K. New subheadings 9903.76.21 and 9903.76.22 will apply a 15% overall tariff, including both Section 232 and most-favored nation duties, to goods of Japan and the EU, respectively.
Goods subject to these Section 232 tariffs won’t be subject to reciprocal tariffs, the additional 40% International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariffs imposed on Brazil and additional 25% IEEPA tariffs imposed on India for its imports of Russian oil.
Goods subject to both these tariffs and the Section 232 tariffs on autos and auto parts will only be subject to the tariffs on autos and auto parts. Goods subject to both these tariffs and the IEEPA tariffs on Canada and Mexico will only be subject to these Section 232 lumber and furniture tariffs.
"Products that are not subject to these Section 232 tariffs will generally be subject instead to reciprocal tariffs," said a White House fact sheet also released Sept. 29. The proclamation also removes more than 150 tariff subheadings in Chapter 44 from the “Annex II” list of goods exempt from reciprocal tariffs, effective Oct. 14.
Drawback will be available. Any goods subject to these tariffs entered into a foreign-trade zone on or after Oct. 14 must be entered under privileged foreign status.
Like with Section 232 tariffs on steel, aluminum and autos, the proclamation directs the Commerce Department to create an inclusion process to add goods to the tariffs.
It also includes a provision that, if Commerce finds “that there is a risk of undervaluation of any particular class of imports of wood products subject to tariffs imposed pursuant to this proclamation, the Secretary is authorized to impose specific, compound, or mixed tariffs at a rate that he determines to correspond approximately to the ad valorem duty rate otherwise in effect under section 232 for the same class of articles.”