WASHINGTON – The furniture industry appears to have been spared in the latest $50 billion round of tariffs announced by the Trump administration yesterday, which appear to have focused on electronics, machinery and aerospace equipment.

The 25% tariffs, which according to some media reports were carefully targeted to avoid direct disruption of consumer goods, include a wide range of machinery and components but did not include furniture specifically or textiles that could impact the importation of furniture kits, two segments the industry had been watching closely in the run up to this latest exchange in the U.S. – China trade dispute.

The list did include a number of textile-related machinery items, such as “shuttle-type power looms for weaving fabrics of a width exceeding 30cm but not exceeding 4.9m,” but it was unclear at this early stage what the impact would be on furniture and related supplier segments.

China responded immediately to the U.S. move, imposing a dollar-equivalent series of tariffs on such U.S. exports as soybeans, cotton, cars and orange juice, to name just a few of the included products. Last week that impacted furniture industry stocks, this latest round of activity does not appear to be having broad-based impact on publicly traded furniture manufacturers, retailers and suppliers.