Donald Trump expands trade war with China, slaps new tariffs on furniture, wood imports

President Donald Trump ushered in new tariffs on imported furniture, kitchen cabinets and lumber on Tuesday, adding a fresh round of levies as he once again threatened to expand his trade war with China.

Tariffs ranging from 10 per cent to 50 per cent on foreign wood products and furniture snapped into effect just after midnight.

The tariffs are meant to encourage more domestic logging and furniture manufacturing. But critics say that the levies will raise prices for American consumers and could slow industries, including homebuilding, that rely on materials from abroad.

The tariffs come in addition to import taxes Mr Trump has already imposed on cars, steel and other goods. And they take effect as Mr Trump is engaging in a high-stakes game of chicken with China, one of America’s biggest trading partners, which could end up derailing trade and slowing the US economy.

On Friday, the president said he might add an additional levy of 100 per cent to all products from China beginning November 1. Beijing last week placed restrictions on its exports of rare earth minerals, which could be crippling for American and European makers of semiconductors, electric vehicles and other products.

On Tuesday, Jamieson Greer, the US trade representative, said on CNBC on that US and Chinese officials had discussed the rare earths issue as recently as Monday, and that whether the United States chose to impose the tariffs on Chinese products would depend on Beijing’s next moves.

“We can’t have a situation where the Chinese keep this regime in place where they want to have veto power of the world’s high-tech supply chains,” Mr Greer said.

The president is facing a legal challenge at the Supreme Court that could declare his tariffs on China, as well as other countries, illegal. The court case does not pertain to the president’s tariffs on furniture and lumber, which were issued under a different national security-related trade law, Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962.

Some critics have called it a stretch to issue the furniture and lumber tariffs under the national-security-related law.

A proclamation put out by the Trump administration in late September said that wood products were “used in critical functions of the Department of War,” including building infrastructure for personnel and for transporting munitions, and therefore deserved protection.