The Supreme Court could rule on President Donald Trump’s tariffs any day now.
However, the outcome of that case might make little difference to the struggling furniture industry, CNBC reported Thursday (Feb. 19).
Furniture importers are dealing with steep tariffs on their products, with duties specific to their businesses of around 25%, the report said. These tariffs are not the ones under review by the Supreme Court.
Making matters worse is the ongoing feeling of uncertainty hanging over the sector, Peter Theran, chief executive of the Home Furnishings Association trade group, told CNBC.
The 25% tariffs were supposed to double in January, though that plan was ultimately moved to 2027. It has become routine in the last year for Trump to threaten new tariffs that never actually come to pass, the report added.
“This is a very, very difficult time to manage your business,” said Theran. “The No. 1 driver of the difficulty of managing your business is unpredictability and an inability to make alternative plans and invest in those plans, because you don’t know what tomorrow will be.”
Research from PYMNTS Intelligence, from the report “How Middle-Market Business Uncertainty Rewrote 2025,” has explored this phenomenon.
“Tariffs remain a moving target for U.S. businesses, and the constant recalibration of trade policy has turned what was once episodic disruption into a standing operational challenge for finance and product leaders,” PYMNTS wrote last week.
The research found a deep division between goods-producing companies and services providers. More than one-third of chief financial officers at goods firms reported high operational uncertainty by late 2025, in line with peak levels earlier in the year and rising sharply from pre-tariff conditions. Services firms, on the other hand, were much more insulated, with a majority reporting lower levels of uncertainty.
“That asymmetry reflects the reality of tariffs’ direct exposure,” PYMNTS added. “Goods firms face higher input costs, supply-chain disruptions and pricing pressure that services firms can often avoid. As a result, uncertainty for manufacturers and distributors shifted from background risk to a day-to-day operating constraint by mid-2025.”
Trump was sued last year by a group of small businesses over his “Liberation Day” tariffs from last April, which established duties of 10% to 50% on most imports. The president has said he has authority to institute tariffs under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which allows the executive branch authority to “regulate” the “importation” of goods from foreign nations or individuals in reaction to an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to national security, foreign policy or the economy.
During arguments before the Supreme Court last year, justices both conservative and liberal expressed skepticism in the White House’s argument.
