WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump's fresh tariffs on imported wood, furniture and kitchen cabinets took effect Tuesday, a development likely to fuel building costs and pile pressure on homebuyers in an already challenging market.
The duties were imposed to boost US industries and protect national security, according to the White House, and they broaden a slate of sector-specific tariffs Trump has imposed since returning to the presidency.
The latest salvo features a 10 percent tariff on imports of softwood lumber, while duties on certain upholstered furniture and kitchen cabinets start at 25 percent.
Come January 1, the rate on imported upholstered furniture is set to rise to 30 percent, while those on kitchen cabinets and vanities will jump to 50 percent.
But duties on wood products from Britain will not exceed 10 percent, and those from the European Union and Japan face a 15-percent ceiling.
All three trading partners have reached deals with the Trump administration to avert harsher duties.
But the new tariffs will "create additional headwinds for an already challenged housing market by further raising construction and renovation costs," warned National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) chairman Buddy Hughes.
US home sales have been gloomy in recent years with high mortgage rates and limited inventory pushing costs up for buyers.
In imposing the latest duties, Trump said the Commerce Secretary found that "wood products are used in critical functions of the Department of War, including building infrastructure for operational testing."
Trump's proclamation added that US wood production "remains underdeveloped," leaving the country import-dependent.
But NAHB's Hughes said: "Imposing these tariffs under a 'national security' pretext ignores the importance housing plays to the physical and economic security of all Americans."
He urged for deals that instead "roll back tariffs on building materials."