Trump Has Imposed a New "IKEA Tariff" Targeting a Variety of Household Furniture

Since he first took office, President Trump has made tariffs one of his signature policy goals. These tariffs are at least ostensibly designed to benefit American trade and manufacturing, but as Americans have discovered, these tariffs will also raise the prices of a wide variety of goods.

The latest round of tariffs, which were announced on Sept. 25, target furniture, drugs, and heavy-duty trucks, and have thus been described as the "IKEA tariffs." Here's what we know about them.

Although Trump did not explicitly mention IKEA in his announcement, he announced on Truth Social that he would be introducing a 50 percent tariff on certain bathroom and kitchen fixtures.

"We will be imposing a 50% Tariff on all Kitchen Cabinets, Bathroom Vanities, and associated products, starting October 1st, 2025," he wrote. "Additionally, we will be charging a 30% Tariff on Upholstered Furniture."

"The reason for this is the large-scale 'FLOODING' of these products into the United States by other outside Countries," he continued. "It is a very unfair practice, but we must protect, for National Security and other reasons, our Manufacturing process. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"

It seems that the president has taken these steps to help American manufacturers of furniture compete in a global market.

The "IKEA tariffs" nickname comes from the fact that the Swedish company is one of the biggest importers of furniture in the United States, and its furniture is famously relatively cheap.

IKEA has already said that the tariffs are impacting its ability to do business in the U.S.

"The tariffs are impacting our business similarly to other companies, and we are closely monitoring the evolving situation," they said in a statement, per the BBC.

He introduced sweeping tariffs on more than 90 countries in August, per the BBC, with the aim of boosting jobs and manufacturing in the United States.

These tariffs have been controversial with the economic community, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is opposed to broad-based tariffs because of the economic harms they can cause.

Thus far, the president has proceeded, although his policy towards particular countries has shifted, as have the actual percentage of the tariffs on various goods.

It's unclear if there was a particular reason that he chose this moment to single out furniture manufacturers like IKEA, but it's yet another thing that might now be more expensive than it was prior to Trump's arrival in office.

Many Americans want to return to a time when the U.S. produced more products. These tariffs are Trump's way of achieving that goal by incentivizing companies to build factories inside the United States, where their goods will not be tariffed.

Only time will tell whether Americans are happy to bear some higher costs, and whether these tariffs actually lead to more good-paying jobs on American soil.