Canadian furniture, cabinet industry still ‘reeling’ after Trump pauses tariff spike

WASHINGTON — The Canadian Kitchen Cabinet Association says while it welcomes U.S. President Donald Trump's delay in tariff hikes on furniture, cabinets and vanities, the industry is still suffering from the tariffs.

Trump hit the sector with 25 percent tariffs in October but suspended promised increases of up to 30 percent for upholstered furniture and 50 percent for cabinets and vanities that were to take effect Jan. 1.

“Yes, 50 percent is a relief. But our industry is still recovering from 25 percent,” said Luke Elias, vice president of the association.

“You just can't mitigate that in a production environment overnight.”

Kitchen cabinet manufacturing is a $4.7-billion industry in Canada, and Elias said the sector exports about $600 million worth of product annually. Trump's tariffs deal another blow to an industry already dealing with a weak Canadian housing market, he added.

Manitoba-based Elias Woodwork employs more than 400 people and exports about 80 percent of its products to the United States. Company President Ralph Fehr said 25 percent tariffs are damaging, but a 50 percent tariff would be disastrous.

“Who in the US would want to pay that much for Canadian content?” – he said. “I just don't think it would have worked very well.”

Fehr said his company uses American materials, such as hardwood lumber from Appalachia, and turns them into finished products that it then sells to customers in the United States.

Fehr said Ottawa has been promoting the benefits of exporting to the United States for decades, and he spent 45 years building a business around that model. “We're kind of hoping they'll speak up for us and try to come to some kind of agreement.”

Fehr said the tariffs have robbed his business of all its profits. For now, his company is looking to cut costs and streamline operations to weather the storm.

The industry has seen layoffs since Trump's tariffs were imposed in October, said Elias (who, despite his last name, is not related to Elias Woodwork). At industry meetings in December, several companies warned that job cuts were on the horizon, he added.

“This is very important,” he said. “We are in a difficult situation.”

Elias said that while Build Canada's procurement policy in Ottawa has been helpful, he wants to see it extended to all construction industry taxpayer benefits, including at the provincial level.

Elias said the federal government must also address the problem of below-market parts imports, a major irritant for the U.S. cabinet and furniture industry.

He said low-cost parts from Asia are brought to Canada, assembled and sold in the United States under the “Made in Canada” label. Canadian industry officials also said parts imports were undermining domestic industries.

In 2020, the US Department of Commerce imposed anti-dumping and countervailing duties on cabinets from China. The American Kitchen Cabinet Alliance accused Canada and Mexico of acting as conduits to circumvent these measures.

“China has not left the US market. He simply changed the return address,” Luke Meissner, counsel for the American Kitchen Cabinet Alliance, said in written testimony during a hearing on the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade agreement last year.

“We have closed the front door to China. Canada and Mexico became side doors.”

Trump said tariffs on furniture were needed to “support American industry and protect national security.”

The trilateral trade agreement, commonly known as CUSMA, is up for renegotiation this year, and the American Kitchen Cabinet Alliance is seeking to tighten rules of origin requirements. Elias said U.S. manufacturers are seeking to build a “Fortress North America” ​​that would ensure cheap products don't end up in Canada or Mexico.

Negotiations over CUSMA are likely to be tense, and Trump has already said he is ready to withdraw from the trade pact.

Ottawa worked to find a path to Trump's industry tariffs, but any hope of short-term relief for Canada was dashed when Trump, angered by Ontario-sponsored ads criticizing the tariffs, canceled trade talks in October.

As the CUSMA review approaches, Elias said it is important that the cabinet and furniture industry is not ignored in favor of higher tariff targets such as steel and automobiles.

He said 3,500 companies employing more than 25,000 Canadians were affected by the tariffs.

“You never hear about kitchen cabinets, but we are in every home.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 2, 2026.

Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press