President Donald Trump signed a New Year’s Eve proclamation delaying tariffs on furniture, kitchen cabinets and vanities for a year, citing ongoing trade talks.
Trump’s order, signed Wednesday, maintains a 25% tariff he imposed in September on those goods but delays for another year a 30% tariff on upholstered furniture and a 50% tariff on kitchen cabinets and vanities.
The increases, set to take effect January 1, come as the Republican president has imposed a broad array of taxes on imported goods to address trade imbalances and other issues.
The president has said the tariffs on furniture are needed to “bolster American industry and protect national security.”
The delay is the latest in a series of such actions since he returned to office last year, with the president at times announcing levies without warning and then delaying or reversing them just as abruptly.
The Trump administration on Wednesday also signaled it may back away from a steep proposed tariff on Italian pasta that would have set the rate at 107%. The U.S. had threatened to impose a heavy tariff on Italian pasta makers after the U.S. Commerce Department launched what it called a routine antidumping review, based on allegations that the pasta makers sold products in the U.S. at below-market prices and undercut local competitors.
A final decision on the sanctions was scheduled for January 2, with an option to extend it.
The Commerce Department said Wednesday that following a new review, the rates would be lowered to between 2.26% and 13.89% for the pasta makers because they had addressed many of the department’s concerns. A final decision is now set for March 12.
Italian farm lobby Coldiretti and another food industry association, Filiera Italia, welcomed the development. The two lobby groups had strongly opposed the original tariffs and urged the Italian government to intervene.
The two associations said the original proposed tariffs would have doubled the cost of a plate of pasta for American families, “opening the door to Italian-sounding products and penalizing the authentic quality of Made in Italy.”
They reported that in 2024, Italian pasta exports to the U.S. amounted to €671 million ($787 million).
“Coldiretti and Filiera Italia will continue to defend our premium pasta exported to the U.S. market, which we have also supported with a strong campaign in the international media,” the associations said in a statement.
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Associated Press writer Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this report.