HICKORY, NC —
Ready or not, help is on the way for North Carolina’s beleaguered furniture manufacturers.
President Donald Trump is turning to his favorite weapon, massive tariffs on foreign goods slapped together with little notice, to revive furniture manufacturing in a state haunted by jobs shipped overseas over the past two decades.
Yet some furniture executives worry that this help from the federal government will do more harm than good to an industry grappling with notoriously thin profit margins, a shortage of skilled workers and whiplash from other tariffs.
Exhibit A: Alex Shuford, CEO of 78-year-old Rock House Farm Furniture, who, in theory, would benefit from these levies.
But like others in the industry, Shuford has mixed feelings about the tariffs and the way Trump’s plan has been rolled out. He appreciates the “admirable” desire to revitalize North Carolina manufacturing, but warns of collateral damage in the interconnected global furniture ecosystem.
Furniture prices in the United States have been rising at the fastest pace since the Covid-19 pandemic. Furniture executives caution that tariffs could amplify that trend.
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