Trump to impose steep import tariffs on drugs, furniture, trucks, cabinets

Washington: President Donald Trump said he will impose sweeping new import taxes starting October 1, targeting a wide range of products from pharmaceuticals to furniture and trucks.

Trump announced on his social media platform Thursday that the tariffs will include 100 percent duties on pharmaceutical drugs, 50 percent on kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities, 30 percent on upholstered furniture, and 25 percent on heavy trucks.

The move underscores Trump’s continued reliance on tariffs as a tool to spur domestic manufacturing and reduce the federal budget deficit. He argued that some duties are needed “for National Security and other reasons,” though he did not cite a formal legal basis.

The Commerce Department this year launched Section 232 investigations into the national security impacts of pharmaceutical and truck imports, while also examining timber and lumber. It remains unclear if the furniture tariffs stem from those probes.

Economists warn the new duties could feed inflation, raise consumer prices, and slow hiring. “We have begun to see goods prices showing through into higher inflation,” Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said recently, adding that imported costs account for most of this year’s price increases.

Trump, who has pressed Powell to resign and urged deeper interest rate cuts, insists tariffs will not harm households. He said the pharmaceutical tax would not apply to companies building US factories, though it remains unclear how existing manufacturers would be treated.

In 2024, the US imported nearly USD 233 billion in pharmaceuticals. A 100 percent tax could double medicine prices, straining Medicare, Medicaid, insurers, and patients. Business leaders, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, warned of “immediate price hikes, hospital shortages, and the real risk of patients rationing or foregoing essential medicines.”

The tariffs on cabinetry and furniture may also raise housing costs. Builders are already contending with high mortgage rates and supply shortages, even as listings increased in August and the median existing home price reached USD 422,600.

Trump has long dismissed concerns that businesses pass tariff costs to consumers. Yet data show limited benefits so far: since April, U.S. manufacturers have cut 42,000 jobs and construction firms 8,000. Inflation has risen to 2.9 percent annually, up from 2.3 percent in April.

Despite the economic pressures, Trump declared Thursday, “There’s no inflation. We’re having unbelievable success.” He also pledged to redirect tariff revenues to farmers hurt by trade conflicts, echoing aid packages he approved during his first term when China retaliated against US agriculture.

The Supreme Court will hear in November whether Trump’s broader emergency- based tariffs exceeded presidential authority after two federal courts ruled against him.